Intel Indeo AVI (882kb)

Split Screen Crash Test Video (From a video tape produced by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.) This video shows what can happen to a short female driver if the driver air bag is turned off. This is a Windows AVI file created from a video graciously provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

SUMMARY: This final rule seeks to preserve the benefits of air bags, while providing a means for reducing the risk of serious or fatal injury that current air bags pose to identifiable groups of people, e.g., people who cannot avoid sitting extremely close to air bags, people with certain medical conditions, and young children. The benefits are substantial; current air bags had saved about 2,620 drivers and passengers, as of November 1, 1997. However, those air bags had also caused the death of 87 people in low speed crashes, as of that same date. Most of those people were unbelted or improperly belted. Although vehicle manufacturers are beginning to replace current air bags with new air bags having some advanced attributes, i.e., attributes that will automatically avoid the risks created by current air bags, an interim solution is needed now for those groups of people at risk from current air bags in existing vehicles.

This final rule exempts motor vehicle dealers and repair businesses from the statutory prohibition against making federally-required safety equipment inoperative so that, beginning January 19, 1998, they may install retrofit manual on-off switches for air bags in vehicles owned by or used by persons whose requests for switches have been approved by the agency. While the administrative process necessary to provide prior approval is more complex than the process proposed by the agency in January 1997 for enabling vehicle owners to obtain switches, prior approval is warranted by several considerations. The requirement for prior approval of requests for switches emphasizes to vehicle owners the importance of taking the safety consequences of a decision to seek and use on-off switches very seriously. While some people need and will be benefited by on-off switches, the vast majority of people will not be. Further, checking the requests for switches is more appropriately performed by the agency than by the dealers and repair businesses who will install the switches. Finally, prior approval will enable the agency to monitor directly, from the very beginning, the implementation of the regulation and the effectiveness of its regulation and the associated educational materials in promoting informed decision making about on-off switches.

Under the exemption, vehicle owners can request an on-off switch by filling out an agency request form and submitting the form to the agency. On the form, owners must certify that they have read an information brochure discussing air bag safety and risks. The brochure describes the steps that the vast majority of people can take to minimize the risk of serious injuries from air bags while preserving the benefits of air bags, without going to the expense of buying an on-off switch. The brochure was developed by the agency to enable owners to determine whether they are, or a user of their vehicle is, in one of the groups of people at risk of a serious air bag injury and to make a careful, informed decision about requesting an on-off switch. Owners must also certify that they or another user of their vehicle is a member of one or the risk groups. Since the risk groups for drivers are different from those for passengers, a separate certification must be made on an agency request form for each air bag to be equipped with an on-off switch.

If NHTSA approves a request, the agency will send the owner a letter authorizing the installation of one or more on-off switches in the owner's vehicle. The owner may give the authorization letter to any dealer or repair business, which may then install an on-off switch for the driver or passenger air bag or both, as approved by the agency. The on-off switch must meet certain criteria, such as being equipped with a telltale light to alert vehicle occupants when an air bag has been turned off. The dealer or repair business must then fill in information about itself and its installation in a form in the letter and return the form to the agency.

This final rule also denies a petition for reconsideration of the agency's January 1997 decision in a separate rulemaking not to extend the option for installing original equipment manufacturer on-off switches for passenger air bags to all new vehicles equipped with air bags. As a result of that decision, the option continues to apply only to those new vehicles lacking a rear seat capable of accommodating a rear-facing infant restraint.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Parts 571 and 595
[Docket No. NHTSA-97-3111]
RIN 2127 - AG61

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