ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 24, 1996 TAG: 9611250176
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The New York Times;
As more people have grown concerned about whether the air bags designed to keep them safe in a car crash could accidentally kill them, the Department of Transportation has been flooded with phone calls from people seeking safety advice.
A toll-free telephone line that gives safety tips about air bags has been receiving more than 500 calls daily, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Timothy Hurd, said Saturday.
The safety agency is telling people that they can best protect themselves in a crash by wearing seat belts, sitting as far back from the dashboard as is comfortable and driving with their hands at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions on the steering wheel. Children under 13 are best protected when they are sitting in the back seat, the agency says, and child seats should never be placed in the front seat.
Air bags do save lives - about 1,600 so far. But the safety agency and the public have grown concerned because air bags have also killed 51 people since 1991 - most of whom were not wearing seat belts, and most of them were children younger than 10 or short women. The safety devices can be dangerous because they shoot out at up to 200 mph from steering wheels or the dashboard to protect front-seat occupants in a crash.
On Friday, the safety agency outlined a series of steps it plans to take to make air bags safer and to make the public more aware of their dangers. The agency said it would seek to require more sophisticated air bags within two years, to mandate slower-inflating air bags within a year and to allow mechanics to deactivate the devices.
``Everyone agrees that air bags enhance safety,'' said Dr. Ricardo Martinez, administrator of the safety agency. ``But we have to improve the performance to minimize the risk to children and some adults.''
One decision that car owners will soon face is whether to ask a mechanic to disconnect the air bags.
Safety experts, government officials and automobile industry executives concur that this would be a bad idea for nearly everyone.
``We know that air bags provide a net benefit,'' said Robert C. Lange, the director of vehicle development methodology and laboratories for General Motors Corp.
Martinez agreed. ``We strongly believe that very few people should take this action, because the benefits for most occupants will outweigh the potential hazards,'' he said.
Kathleen Jones, 26, survived a horrible crash in August. She credited the air bag in her 1991 Mercury Capri with saving her life after a man driving toward her swerved into her lane. When they hit head-on, each was traveling about 55 mph, she said.
``I felt my seat belt pin me to my seat, and my air bag exploded,'' said Jones, who still walks on crutches as a result of the crash. ``I was just so thrilled when I opened my eyes after impact and I was alive.''
The driver who hit her was not so fortunate. ``The man that hit me was not wearing a seat belt and did not have an air bag, and he died horribly at the scene,'' Jones said.
Those who would like to learn more about auto safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may call (800) 424-9393 on weekdays. Information is also available on the agency's Internet site: http:/www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
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