Why do dogs love the wind in their face but if you blow on their face, they get upset? Old Arsenio Hall joke......... "things that make you go 'Hm".

Depending on the size of the dog and the size of the air bag, I doubt the airbag would "CRUSH" the dog. Depending on what state you live in it is not illegal to allow your dog to hang out the window while you are driving. If the driver got into an accident the one factor I can think of where the dog being in that position, would be if the driver was making a lane change and the driver failed to look into the lane next to him in order to change lanes safely due to the position of the dog. If that was the case, the dog might not even factor in the accident report, it would just be considered an unsafe lane change and the driver would be cited for that offense.

Yeah, but I'd hate to have my family member killed due to an "unsafe lane change" by a person who was blinded by their dog!

Small children have been killed by airbags deploying into their chest. Many dogs are the same size or smaller than a child, so I would assume they would die too. A car harness would make everyone, dog included, safe.

Hubby had a client over here from England and he got into a fender bender. This happened when the first generation airbags were being used. He was doing about 35 mph. He had burns on his face (from the powder that propels the bag) and a bruise on his chest. My current car has front, side, and canopy airbags. So if hit just right, you could possibly be hit with the front and side bags at the same time. This is also why you are not supposed to drive with your hand in the 12 o'clock position. The air bag will sling your arm back into your face.

Usually the dogs you see driving are the small variety. The ones who are most likely to be hurt by the impact. And as Meghane stated, small kids have been killed by airbags. That's why they put those big ugly yellow stickers all over the visor covers.

It's like most things, people just need to use a little common sense. Whether it's dogs, phones, playing with the radio, or whatever while driving.

People have enough distractions as it is while driving. Do they really need to have a dog on their lap added in to the mix??

That ranks right up there with the stupid people who let their dogs sit loose in the back of their pickup truck.

The Department of Transportaion currently has no information on the number of pet deaths related to airbags. Airbags have undergone a number of remakes due to the deaths related to the airbag being released. More dogs die every year as a result of accidental poisoning, over-eating and other household accidents. Pets sitting in the front seat pose just as much of a risk as those hanging out the window as far as airbag deaths go. So in my mind it is a mute point.