Stricter side air bag rules proposed
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday proposed new rules that would require automakers to make larger and stronger side air bags to prevent motorists from being thrown out of vehicles during rollover crashes.
The plan would set new performance standards for "ejection mitigation" and is aimed at reducing the roughly 10,400 deaths in rollover crashes every year.
NHTSA said the new rule, when completely implemented, would save 402 lives and 302 serious injuries annually. Most of the benefit would be for motorists not wearing seat belts, but NHTSA estimates that 13 percent of those wearing seat belts also would benefit.
NHTSA estimates the cost at $54 per vehicle, or $920 million annually.
The new rules would apply to vehicles 10,000 pounds or less and would likely require "side curtain air bags to be made larger to cover more of the window opening, made more robust to remain inflated longer, enhanced to deploy in side impacts and in rollovers, and made not only to cushion but also made sufficiently strong to keep an occupant from being fully or partially ejected through a side window."
Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing 11 automakers, including Detroit's Big Three and Toyota Motor Corp., said they were studying the proposal.
"We're still reviewing the proposal, but given that safety is our highest priority, we share NHTSA's concern for enhanced safety in all aspects of operating a vehicle," Newton said.
"
T)his is an issue we have already been working on. We hope the final rule on this facilitates our continued rollout of side curtain air bags. In fact, 76 percent of model year 2008 vehicles were available with side curtain air bags."
NHTSA noted that Ford Motor Co. introduced its Safety Canopy side curtains in the 2002 model year that now inflate for six seconds, while General Motors Co.'s side curtain air bags remain open for five seconds.
By contrast, side-impact or frontal air bags often stay open for just 0.1 second.
Source: Stricter side air bag rules proposed
The plan would set new performance standards for "ejection mitigation" and is aimed at reducing the roughly 10,400 deaths in rollover crashes every year.
NHTSA said the new rule, when completely implemented, would save 402 lives and 302 serious injuries annually. Most of the benefit would be for motorists not wearing seat belts, but NHTSA estimates that 13 percent of those wearing seat belts also would benefit.
NHTSA estimates the cost at $54 per vehicle, or $920 million annually.
The new rules would apply to vehicles 10,000 pounds or less and would likely require "side curtain air bags to be made larger to cover more of the window opening, made more robust to remain inflated longer, enhanced to deploy in side impacts and in rollovers, and made not only to cushion but also made sufficiently strong to keep an occupant from being fully or partially ejected through a side window."
Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing 11 automakers, including Detroit's Big Three and Toyota Motor Corp., said they were studying the proposal.
"We're still reviewing the proposal, but given that safety is our highest priority, we share NHTSA's concern for enhanced safety in all aspects of operating a vehicle," Newton said.
"
T)his is an issue we have already been working on. We hope the final rule on this facilitates our continued rollout of side curtain air bags. In fact, 76 percent of model year 2008 vehicles were available with side curtain air bags." NHTSA noted that Ford Motor Co. introduced its Safety Canopy side curtains in the 2002 model year that now inflate for six seconds, while General Motors Co.'s side curtain air bags remain open for five seconds.
By contrast, side-impact or frontal air bags often stay open for just 0.1 second.
Source: Stricter side air bag rules proposed
