DATE: Saturday, March 15, 1997              TAG: 9703150411

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   62 lines

RULES OK'D FOR AUTOMAKERS TO USE LESS-FORCEFUL AIR BAGS

Federal regulators Friday approved rules that will allow automakers to reduce the speed at which air bags deploy, an action they say will save the lives of scores of children and smaller adults.

But they acknowledged that some other adults may die in crashes they might have survived if the current standard were kept on the books.

``We've made a policy decision that it's more important to us to decrease the risk to children,'' said Ricardo Martinez, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

His agency released a new regulation that will allow automakers to install air bags in new cars that deploy with 20 percent to 35 percent less force than the current air bags. Air bags now deploy at up to 200 mph.

The auto industry said some of the first cars with the lower-velocity air bags may be on the market by late summer.

The safety agency's move is in response to a public outcry about the deaths of at least 38 children and 24 adults from deploying air bags in lower-speed accidents they should have survived.

``Many of the current air bags are using a one-size-fits-all technology, and clearly that represents some risks for children and some small adults,'' said Martinez. Less-powerful air bags are the fastest and simplest solution to minimize their risk, he said.

``We will have model year 1998 vehicles that have depowered air bags, and they may hit the market - some of them - in late summer,'' said Barry Felrice, director of regulatory affairs for the American Automobile Manufacturers Association.

The safety agency estimates air bags have saved more than 1,700 lives since 1986. But concerns have grown lately about the risks they pose, especially to small, unbelted passengers or drivers.

Those injured by air bags were mostly unbelted or improperly belted.

When all cars are equipped with air bags sometime in the next century, the agency estimates, 107 children and 33 infants in rear-facing infant seats would be killed if the devices maintained their current deployment force and use of child seat belts did not increase.

The agency estimates the less-forceful air bags will spare 47 children - or about 44 percent of those who otherwise might have been killed accidentally by the safety devices.

Rear-facing infant seats are too close to the dashboard for an infant to be protected from the force of either bag, officials say. Those seats must be placed in the back.

Between 50 and 430 adults a year who otherwise would have been saved by the more-forceful air bags in higher-speed accidents might instead lose their lives with ``depowered'' air bags, the agency estimates.

Martinez cautioned that the higher numbers were a worst-case estimate for when all cars are equipped with air bags sometime in the next century. Roughly one-third of vehicles have them now.

Automakers disputed the agency's estimates, saying that as few as zero but no more than 50 adult lives a year would be lost due to less-powerful air bags.

At the same time, they contend hundreds of lives would be saved - including those of children, short adults and unbuckled adults thrust against the dashboard by braking as the air bag deploys in a crash.

Martinez said the agency will keep pushing to increase seat belt use. KEYWORDS: AIR BAGS

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