Front airbags; e-tron’s energy; Cannonball

A QUERY on last week’s Advice page (2003 BMW 320d) has sparked a reaction about disabling the front passenger-seat airbag in a car.

I asked the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to give guidance on this serious issue, thanks to readers who spotted the issue and brought it to our attention.

The query outlined how a family wanted to be in a position to disable the passenger airbag in the event of having to use a booster seat.

The RSA spokesman informed us: “The law says that you cannot fit a rearward-facing car seat in the front passenger seat with an active airbag.

“From a safety perspective we always recommend that you put the rearward seat in the back rather than deactivating the airbag.

“(This is) because you may forget to re-activate it and in the event of a crash it won’t deploy to protect the adult passenger.

“In the case of a booster seat in the front passenger seat, which is completely legal, we would suggest pushing the seat back to the furthest setting.

“That way the child won’t take the full impact of the airbag on deployment.

“But again, it is both legal and safe for a child a booster seat to sit in the front. Any child can sit in the front passenger seat, just as long as they are in the right child restraint for their height and weight.

“The only exception, as mentioned above, is when a rearward-facing seat is in the front with and active airbag.”

AUDI are making much of the fact their new e-tron electric SUV, which due here next year, has three ways of recuperating energy on the move.

They are, manual coasting using the shift paddles, automatic coasting by way of the special predictive efficiency assist, and brake recuperation.

The car will be sold across the marque’s network here with orders beginning from early 2019. Look forward to driving it under Irish conditions.

I think electric cars will re-educate many of us on the best way to get the most out of limited energy.

If it does, it will be a good thing because many of us leave braking until the last minute, when it tends to be a rushed, sudden affair.

Far better to gently lift off the accelerator and ease the braking to reach a gentle halt.

SKODA’s facelifted Fabia will be arriving in late September/early October, I’m told.

The Cannonball supercar spectacle is all set to roll from September 7 to September 9, with more than 190,000 people expected to line the streets all over the country.

Marques involved include McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche, Maserati, Rolls Royce and Bentley.

The organisers say the motors will “blaze a trail through Dublin, Cavan, Donegal, Mayo, Spanish Point, Blarney, Cork, Tramore, Kilkenny and Wexford, taking in the Wild Atlantic Way, Hidden Heartlands and Ireland’s Ancient East”.

The event starts at Malahide Castle on Friday September 7at 10.30am, although cars will be on display from the previous evening.

The official charity of Cannonball 2018 will be the 24-hour listening service for children and young people, Childline, which answers more than 380,000 contacts each year.

The Cannonball series has already raised €960,000 for Irish charities.

In total there will be 190 cars participating in the event.

Ford is celebrating the production of its 10 millionth Mustang. It is a 460hp 2019 Wimbledon White GT V8 6spd manual convertible, built at the brand’s Flat Rock assembly plant in Michigan.