Air Bag Cut-off Switches

Air Bag Cut-off Switches

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is in the process of revealing plans to allow motor vehicle owners to install air bag cut-off switches. The proposed ruling is aimed at saving lives and easing the controversy regarding the effectiveness of these safety devices by minimizing risks of injury and death associated with the deployment force of air bags, which have killed about 89 children and small women since car manufacturers began installing them in the late 1980s.

In the first phase of its rule changes, NHTSA allowed auto manufacturers to reduce the inflation power of air bags by as much as 35 percent.

NHTSA had initially proposed a provision allowing drivers to disconnect the air bags permanently if they felt unsafe, but reconsidered the idea due to liability issues and protests from auto manufacturers and safety civic groups.

Instead, the agency is opting for a switch, which will allow drivers to maintain the protection of an air bag for a larger person while turning it off to reduce the danger it could pose to a small child. This proposal provides a mechanism for maintaining control of the vehicle owners that can obtain a cut-off switch, as well as, providing guidance for drivers to assess their own risks.

Safety advocates expect that NHTSA will approve the requests for the following scenarios:

Smaller persons who must sit within 25.4 centimeters of the steering wheel in order to reach the foot pedals.

Those who must transport many small children to seat them all properly in their vehicles rear seats.

People who do not have a rear seat in their car or truck.

People with certain types of medical conditions or disability that could be aggravated by an air bag deployment.

Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, based in Washington, D.C., stated that. "There is no perfect way of handling this, but it's a lot better than originally proposed, because it's an on-off switch, not a disconnection."

This organization is in the process of requesting NHTSA a mandate that will force auto manufacturers to disclose more information regarding the design and performance characteristics of the air bags for the vehicle classes affected by this ruling.

This organization claims that all deaths from passenger air bags have been caused by those that inflate horizontally, or straight at the passenger. Those air bags that inflate vertically, or out of the top of the dashboard are supposed to be safer, but most consumers do not know the difference between the two types.

Another request is associated with the minimum vehicle speeds at which the air bag deploys, inflation pressures and air bag volumes, as well as whether anyone has been killed by a specific vehicle's air bags.

Adapted from: http://www.pathfinder.com/news/latest/RB/1997Nov18/219.html