4 Ways Your Windshield Protects Your Family During an Auto Accident

However, you may not realize just how much protection your windshield provides your family during an automobile collision. In fact, a windshield is actually considered an automobile's main safety restraint and provides much of an automobile’s structural support.

Learn four ways your vehicle's windshield protects your passengers and you during an automobile collision.

Your vehicle airbags are very important safety devices that help protect the head and upper body of an automobile driver and front passenger from injury during an auto accident. Like many drivers, you may not realize that proper vehicle airbag deployment can be hindered by an automobile windshield that is not structurally sound.

Modern vehicles have crash sensors that deploy airbags when the sensors detect an automobile collision. After one of these crash sensors triggers passenger side airbag deployment, this airbag comes out from its case and bounces upward against your windshield after it inflates.

If your windshield is not structurally sound due to a bad crack or any other type of windshield damage that weakens it, this force could cause your windshield to break. Once your windshield breaks, your airbags can end up not protecting the front passengers of your vehicle as well as they could if they were properly positioned.

In addition, vehicle passengers could eject from your vehicle through your front windshield after it breaks. A large percentage of deaths that occur during automobile collisions happen after passengers get ejected from vehicles.

A windshield provides essential structural support to your entire vehicle, especially its cabin. For this reason, a strong, structurally sound windshield helps protect your family during vehicle collisions, especially those that lead to vehicle rollovers.

Today's vehicles must meet certain roof crush resistance standards to ensure vehicle passengers have proper protection during vehicle rollovers. If a roof crushes during a vehicle rollover, serious passenger injuries, such as head and neck injuries, or even passenger death could occur.

A windshield provides up to 60 percent of the structural support of a vehicle roof during a rollover. If a windshield is not structurally sound enough to provide this needed support, the crush resistance of a vehicle roof can be dramatically compromised. Serious injuries to vehicle occupants are more likely to occur.

A front-end collision, also called a frontal impact collision, is one of the most potentially deadly types of vehicle accidents. Depending on the speed a vehicle is traveling at during a front-end collision, these auto accidents can result in whiplash, neck injuries, spinal cord injuries, head injuries, and even death.

During a front-end collision, your windshield serves many important purposes that protect your vehicle occupants. Your windshield provides about 45 percent of the structural support of the vehicle front cabin. This support helps keep the front end of your vehicle intact during a front-end collision, preventing passenger injuries of all types.

In addition, since passenger ejection often occurs during front-end collisions, your windshield also serves the important purpose of keeping vehicle occupants from going out of the vehicle during this type of collision. 

Your windshield also absorbs shock during all types of auto accidents. When your windshield is not structurally sound, it absorbs less of this shock, leading to vehicle occupants absorbing more. When vehicle occupants absorb this energy, it can lead to serious auto injuries.

Your vehicle windshield also helps keep objects outside the vehicle from entering it. During a vehicle collision, vehicle parts, such as automobile mirrors and accessories, can become airborne. Your windshield keeps these foreign objects from flying into your automobile at high speeds and potentially harming you and your passengers.

While you likely know that your windshield is a very important automobile component, you may not realize just how your windshield protects you and your vehicle occupants during a vehicle collision. Any windshield damage, especially cracks, can weaken your windshield. This hinders its ability to protect vehicle occupants during an automobile collision. 

To keep your family safer during an auto accident, repair or replace your windshield as soon as you notice it has damage. However, never attempt to replace your own windshield or have it replaced by a company you do not trust — driving with an improperly installed windshield can be just as dangerous or even more dangerous than driving with one that is cracked or chipped.

Contact the auto glass professionals at MS Glass Outlet to discuss automobile windshield repair or replacement today. We look forward to hearing from you.