Transportation Secretary Slater Announces Proposal to Preserve, Enhance Benefits Of Air Bags and Reduce Risks |
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Topics: Rodney E. Slater
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NHTSA
September 14, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHTSA 63-98
September 14, 1998
Contact: Tim Hurd
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550
Continuing the comprehensive plan to improve air bag safety, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced a historic proposal to require 21st century technology to preserve and enhance the benefits of air bags while reducing the risks associated with them.
"Safety is President Clinton's highest transportation priority, and this proposal will help prepare the way for better air bags," Secretary Slater said. "It continues our comprehensive series of actions, begun in 1995, requiring protection for a wide range of motor vehicle occupants involved in crashes."
The proposal by the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would require additional air bag system performance tests for passenger cars and light trucks in order to provide maximum protection for properly seated adults and reduced risks for infants, young children and adults who get too close to inflating air bags.
"This proposal will improve safety and give automakers maximum flexibility to pursue effective technological solutions," said NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez, M.D.
Though air bags are expected to save more than 3,000 lives per year when every vehicle is equipped with them, new information and better science provided by the advanced air bag proposal will save additional lives by overcoming the limitations of the sled test and previous injury criteria.
Proposed crash tests would incorporate a new crash test dummy family with improved injury criteria that better represents human tolerances. The family includes 1-, 3- and 6-year-old child dummies, a small (5th percentile) female dummy, and an average size (50th percentile) male dummy.
The advanced air bag proposal calls for additional tests to reduce the risks to infants, children and out-of-position adults. The proposal also includes full car crash tests to preserve and enhance the current level of air bag protection. The only currently required test is a 30 mph crash into a barrier or an optional sled test which does not destroy the vehicle, both using only an average size male dummy.
Dr. Martinez cautioned that advanced air bags will never eliminate the need for vehicle occupants to use seat belts. Even in vehicles with advanced air bags, the back seat still will be the safest seating position for children, and young children should still be transported in safety seats or booster seats appropriate for their age, he said.
The rulemaking announced today proposes a phase-in schedule for these requirements. Under the proposal, manufacturers would be required to comply with the new standard beginning with Model Year 2003 vehicles. Twenty-five percent of each automakers' production beginning Sept. 1, 2002, would be required to meet the new standard; 40 percent of MY 2004 production would be required to meet the new standard; 70 percent of MY 2005; and all MY 2006 passenger cars and light trucks would be required to meet the new standard.
The proposal is in NHTSA's Docket No. 98-4405. Interested parties may comment on the proposal within 90 days of publication of this proposal in the Federal Register. NHTSA will schedule a public meeting on the proposal later in the comment period. A separate Federal Register notice will be published announcing details of this meeting.
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