My partner, who is about 5' tall, had some concerns about the possibility of being injured if an airbag deploys when she's a passenger. Both of us haven't bought a new car in decades ('87 Civic Hatchback for me, '86 Toyota Tercel for her); and with my imminent plans to purchase (OK, "get in line for") a Prius, the issue came up. Anyway, I compiled a list of summary articles off the Internet, which answered any questions we had and allayed our worries about the danger of airbags. I thought I'd post them here, in case someone considering a Prius (or someone who already owned one) had questions or worries about airbag safety. of the "dual-stage" airbag system that the Prius uses. Two good FAQs about airbag safety, one from WomanMotorist.com, and the other (with a lot of links to statistics) at the Highway Loss Data Institute. Comprehensive (9 page) document detailing history/controversy/statistics about airbags and airbag safety at Cars.com (great site, affiliated with the NPR Car Talk guys). And speaking of Car Talk, Tom & Ray weigh in on airbags. (The "less powerful" airbags that Tom mentions are the "dual-stage" airbags the Prius has.) Hope this helps...
