Feds allowing some motorists to have on-off switches for air bags

Web posted Nov. 18 at 12:46 AM

By Catherine Strong
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration will announce new rules Tuesday allowing certain motorists to have on-off switches installed for the air bags in their cars, industry and government officials said.

The move is in response to the deaths of dozens of children and adults -- many of them short women -- from the force of deploying air bags.

Motorists would read information about air bags and sign paperwork certifying that they fit into one of several high-risk categories of people before a switch could be installed.

Those categories include:

-- Adults who must put children in the front seat because they are in a carpool and require the use of all front and back seats. The agency recommends that all children under age 13 sit in the rear, but officials have recognized that is impossible in some situations.

-- Short drivers who cannot sit far enough from the air bag. Agency officials recommend that people sit at least 10 inches away from the air bag module located in the steering wheel.

-- Children or adults with medical problems that require monitoring in the front seat.

-- Vehicles with no back seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already allows new cars rolling off assembly lines with no back seat to have passenger-side cutoff switches to avoid placing rear-facing child seats near air bags.

Motorists who lie in filling out the paperwork could be prosecuted for perjury under the same section of law that covers lying on other official documents.

There has been a public outcry over air bag deaths, prompting the government in March to allow automakers to install air bags that deploy less forcefully.

Air bags have been blamed for the deaths of 49 children and 38 adults. Most of those killed were not wearing seat belts.

Air bags also are credited with saving more than 2,600 lives.

Four major automakers -- General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. and Nissan North American Inc. -- all say they have retrofit cutoff switches in the works. Others say they are studying the idea.

Some auto officials believe several million consumers could seek to have cutoff switches installed. The switches will cost between $150 and $200 including labor, industry experts estimate.