SAFETY AGENCY SAYS AIR BAG KILLED BELTED CHILD.

Byline: Associated Press

For the first time, the government's highway safety agency has found that a child properly using an automobile's front seat belt was killed by the force of an air bag, says a report released Wednesday.

The child's death shows not only that air bag warnings are inadequate, but also that new safety warnings proposed by the government do not go far enough, according to safety advocates.

Instead, they want everyone told - forcefully - that children should never be in the front seat.

Five-year-old Frances Ambrose of Nashville, Tenn., was in the front passenger seat wearing her lap belt and shoulder belt correctly when she was killed Sept. 12 in a low-speed accident, says the new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

``There are a lot of children who are out there who are still in front of these air bags,'' said Albert Ambrose, Frances' father. ``Had we been notified, we wouldn't have put our child in front of an air bag.''

The head of the highway safety agency has repeatedly said that children up to 12 should ride in the back seat.

Ken German, who said his 9-year-old son was killed by an air bag in a low-speed accident last year in Houston, doubts the public is getting the word.

``The message isn't getting out,'' he said. ``Kids should be put in the back seat because passenger-side air bags kill children.''

At least 28 children and 19 adult drivers have been killed by air bags, according to NHTSA. But in accidents before the one that killed Frances Ambrose, the agency said there was no evidence or inconclusive evidence that the children were properly belted.

The highway safety agency is under increasing pressure to deal with the problem of air bag deaths because there are 15 million vehicles with passenger-side air bags on the road, and the number is growing quickly. Air bags will become mandatory on the passenger side of vehicles in model year 1998 for cars and in 1999 for light trucks.

The Parents' Coalition for Air Bag Warnings, mostly made up of parents whose children were killed by air bags, met Wednesday with NHTSA's head, Dr. Ricardo Martinez, to tell him that proposed air bag warning labels should be simple and direct.

Robert Sanders, the coalition's leader, said the message should be: ``Do not seat children in the front seat. Air bags can kill or injure children.''

Last summer, NHTSA proposed warning labels saying that unbelted children and infants in rear-facing child seats may be killed by an air bag.

``Unbelted children can be killed - that's the wrong message,'' said Sanders, whose 7-year-old daughter was killed last year by a deploying air bag.

``The labels ought to be very clear that children should never ride in the front seat. That's the major remedy for parents. That should be blasted all over the world,'' said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator who is president of the advocacy group Public Citizen.

Claybrook said the information should be in the vehicle owner's manual, in labels on the car and in dealerships and insurance companies.

She also advocates laws, such as those in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, requiring children under 13 to ride in the back seat.

The coalition also wants automakers to send letters to registered car owners telling them children should be placed in the back seat because air bags can kill them.

The parents' coalition and highway safety agency agree that the new labels should be dramatic enough to get attention - large and printed in bright yellow and red.

NHTSA declined further comment on the private meeting and the investigation report.