Air bags have killed child passengers, NHTSA warns.Children are at a high risk of death by passenger-side air bags, even when the kids are properly buckled up, the government agency responsible for auto safety says. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced "nit-suh") is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. (NHTSA NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (US government) ) reported in late October that five-year-old Frances Ambrose was killed in a low-speed crash in Nashville, Tennessee “Nashville” redirects here. For other uses, see Nashville (disambiguation). Nashville is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Tennessee, after Memphis. . The force of the passenger-side air bag was responsible for her death, even though she was wearing a seat belt properly, NHTSA said. About 28 children and 19 adults have been killed by the deployment of air bags in automobile crashes during the past few years. The agency previously has acknowledged only that children who died from the force of the safety devices were either not wearing seat belts or were belted improperly. NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez Ricardo José Martinez Mora (born March 06, 1969 in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela) is an electric bass guitar player. He has been in the music industry for more than two decades, working as a session bassist, performer, arranger, song-writer, music producer, music director, banjo said that air bags have saved 1,136 lives from 1986 to 1995 and are responsible for an 11 percent reduction in driver fatalitics. But he said infants to 12-year-old children in the front seat face increased risk when air bags inflate inflate - deflate . Generally, people under 5'3" tall also appear to be at a slightly higher risk of death from air bags than the average-sized man. "These deaths are happening in relatively low-velocity crashes of 25 mph or less," said Larry Coben, an Arizona plaintiffs, lawyer who has handled several air bag cases. "There's no reason the air bag should go off in that kind of crash, and there's no reason why adjustments can't be made in the seat belts to accommodate smaller stature people." Coben explained that standard seat belts on small people may slacken slack·en tr. & intr.v. slack·ened, slack·en·ing, slack·ens 1. To make or become slower; slow down: The runners slackened their pace. Air speed slackened. 2. in a vehicle crash, causing their bodies to enter "the zone of inflation," which means their bodies might be falling forward Falling Forward was one of the forerunners in the mid-nineties development of post-hardcore, or emo in the United States. However, unlike the emo music of today, Falling Forward took the elements of the early pioneers such as Rites of Spring, and expanded on them with their own as the inflating bag strikes them. "The manufacturers and the government knew these problems were going to happen," Coben said. "How surprised can you be if someone puts an infant seat infant seat Child safety seat, see there in the front seat and the air bag impacts and then propels the seat out the back window of a car? How surprised can you be when an adult woman or man of small stature gets hammered by an air bag that's designed for average-sized men?" Baltimore area attorney Robert Sanders's daughter was killed by the force of a passenger-side air bag in 1995. He is the head of Parents' Coalition for Air Bag Warnings, a group made up mostly of parents whose children have been killed in accidents involving air bags. "Air bags, depicted as billowing bil·low n. 1. A large wave or swell of water. 2. A great swell, surge, or undulating mass, as of smoke or sound. v. bil·lowed, bil·low·ing, bil·lows v.intr. 1. clouds in slow-motion television ads, actually deploy at 200 mph, with a force of 2,600 pounds," Sanders said. "The bags, which strike adults on the chest, hit children in the face." Sanders charged that automakers have known of the danger to children for years. He said General Motors stated in 1969 that "a small child close to the instrument panel from which the air cushion air cushion n. 1. Trapped air that supports a vehicle a short distance above the surface of land or water. 2. A device that uses trapped air to absorb the shock of motion, especially in vehicles. Also called air spring. is deployed may, in our present estimation, be severely injured or even killed." In August, NHTSA recommended that "smart" air bags -- devices that can electronically adjust the force of inflation in proportion to the size of the passenger or driver sitting in front of them -- be installed in automobiles. Until then, the agency has proposed new, more visible warning labels and the option of an on-off switch for passenger-side air bags. A final rule is expected on those proposals by the end of the year. The agency said it has long recommended that children ride only in the back seat of cars. On November 1, U.S. automakers volunteered to put more strongly worded warning labels inside cars and trucks with air bags, but the warning language had not yet been decided, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. The trade group also said U.S. automakers will send letters to current owners of vehicles that have passenger-side air bags, reminding them of air bag risks. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford petitioned NHTSA in late August for a change in government testing regulations that would allow less forceful air bags to be installed in cars and trucks. The federal agency has taken no action on their petition. NHTSA says that 15 million vehicles with passenger-side air bags are currently on the road. These air bags will become mandatory in model year 1998 for cars and 1999 for light trucks. |
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