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Smart Air Bags Safer

Smart Air Bags Safer for Kids

Safety advocates are praising smart automobile air bags, which turn themselves off or deploy softly if they sense a driver or passenger is too small. But they say it's still a lot smarter for drivers to put small passengers in the back seat.

Weight-sensing versions start appearing Monday August 27, 2003

Automakers, in compliance with new federal standards, will begin phasing in the new automobile air bags, installing them in 20 percent of new automoblies. The new automobile air bag systems, which have weight sensors in the front auto's seats to detect whether drivers or passengers are too small to withstand the force of an automobile air bag, will be in all new vehicles by Sept. 1, 2006.

Auto Safety Officials and Advocates Applauded the Change but also Issued a Warning

They want to make sure parents are clear: Old automobile air bag, new automobile air bag, no automobile air bag, kids are safer in their automobile's back seat properly restrained.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been 231 confirmed deaths due to automobile air bags since 1990, including 144 children.

While air-bag deaths have been declining steadily since 1998 as more drivers put children in the back seat, a NHTSA survey last year found that 15 percent of infants, 10 percent of 1- to 3-year-olds and 29 percent of 4- to 7-year-olds were still riding in the front seat.

The Automobile Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign estimate that the lives of 1,700 children have been saved since 1996 because they were sitting in the back seat. The group's survey was based on accident data from 1996 through 2001.

Automakers agree Advanced automobile air bags are Not the Answer for Small Children

Automakers were allowed to meet the regulations in several ways. They could install automobile air bags that would not deploy if sensors showed the occupant was too small, or they could install automobile air bags that would deploy at a lower speed if the occupant was too small.

NHTSA estimated it would cost about $127 per vehicle for the new automobile air bag technology, but said it could save automakers money in the long run because they wouldn't have to replace automobile air bags that deploy unnecessarily.

NHTSA announced the new rule in May 2000

So far, Ford Motor Co. is the only one of Detroit's three automakers installing the technology in cars. The 2004 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable have advanced automobile air bags, said Jim Boland, manager of advanced safety for Ford.

General Motors Corp. has advanced automobile air bags in its 2003 and 2004 pickups and sport-utility vehicles, spokesman Jim Schell said. DaimlerChrysler AG is installing the technology in the 2004 Jeep Liberty and Dodge Durango, spokeswoman Angela Ford said.

Side Air Bags

In other news Tuesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released results of a study that found that side automobile air bags that include head protection systems can reduce the risk of dying in side-impact collisions by half.

The results suggest that side automobile air bags, a relatively recent technology, could be as important to safety as seat belts, the insurance industry group said.

This auto study is the first major look at how side automobile air bags, which debuted in the late 1990s, are performing. Side-impact collisions lead to more than 9,000 deaths each year.

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