New air bags ready, but performance is the question

By Kenneth Cole / Detroit News Washington Bureau

    WASHINGTON -- A major air bag manufacturer on Tuesday said advanced designs of the safety devices are available right now, but it's still unclear how they will perform in vehicles.
    Perhaps more important, said John Musiol of Breed Technologies Inc. in Sterling Heights, federal regulators have yet to set guidelines for how the improved systems must work in future cars and light trucks.
    "And that's really what's going to drive the design of the air bag system that goes into new vehicles," Musiol said. "We can prove in the laboratory that our advanced systems work, but it's a big difference between making them work once in a lab and ensuring they'll work in a car.
    "And even then, they've got to perform up to an exact government standard that hasn't been determined yet."
    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hopes to unveil its proposal for new air bag standards this summer. The regulations are expected to protect a greater cross-section of vehicle occupants, particularly short women and infants.
    The current standard was written for a 160-pound unbelted male in a 30-mph crash.
    Among the technologies being developed: infrared and ultrasound sensors to detect the presence and position of passengers, seat-mounted weight sensors, and dual-stage inflators that use less force in a minor crash.
    Some at the air bag technology exhibit in the Dirksen Senate Office Building urged NHTSA to pen the new regulations faster.
    "The designs are promising, but the only way we'll know if they're safe is to test them in real-world crash conditions," said Robert Sanders, president of Parents for Safer Air Bags.
    Automakers urge vigilance. They say the rush to put air bags in vehicles precipitated the current ruckus over the devices.
    Since 1993, 94 people have been killed by deploying air bags, according to NHTSA.