If you're a conscientious motorist who still does everything the way your driver's-ed instructor told you to, you're doing it all wrong. For decades, the standard instruction was that drivers should hold the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 positions, as envisioned on a clock. This, it turns out, is no longer the case. In fact, driving that way could cost you your arms or hands in particularly gruesome ways if your airbag deploys.
Instead, many driving instructors now say you should grip the wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock. A few go even further, suggesting 8 and 4 to avoid the airbag mechanism as much as possible, but what formal research has been published on the varieties of hand positions suggests that this may lessen your control of the car.
6 comment(s):
Funny, but I was always taught 9 and 3. That was thirty years ago. When I went rally and circuit driving the 9 and 3 o'clock advice still held.
Forget air bags. Forget comfort. Having your hands at 9 and 3 o'clock gives the best control and that's what's important.
Indeed I had never heard of drivers being advised to use 10 and 2. After all cars are built so that controls like the indicators and wipers are positioned for hands in the 9 and 3 positions and presumably manufacturers put these controls where most drivers put their hands.
I drive the same way I was taught to 27 years ago -- one hand at noon and the other hand on a beer.
My car doesn't have airbags.
It's worth mentioning that most airbags balloon towards the driver and not outwards towards the sides, so I don't see how the hand position would make any difference at all.
@gareth: your thumbs get injured as the airbag explodes (it goes a little bit sideways as well).
I find this a usefull tip. Here in Holland I was thought the 10 and 2 grip originally (pre-airbag decade).
@Up having seen many airbags deployed I can tell you that they do not hit the sides of the wheel or your thumbs at all until they begin to deflate, at which point there is no force involved. One thing that can cause (minor) injury is the cover on some wheels.
There are quite a few high speed camera videos around of airbags deploying. What is interesting is that US spec airbags appear to be rather different in their deployment.
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