Data Show Air Bags Have Killed 18 Drivers

Adding to the controversy over air bags’ danger to children in front passenger seats, federal statistics show that 18 drivers--15 of them smaller women--have been killed by air bags in low-speed accidents they otherwise should have survived.

“These adults would have lived if the air bag had not been there,” said Lee Franklin of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s research and development office.

In at least three of the cases, the victims were wearing seat belts but were killed by the force of the air bag.

The 15 smaller women killed behind the wheel since 1990 were between 4 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 5 inches tall, according to the highway safety agency’s data.

Most of the public and government focus on air-bag hazards has been on what to do about the deaths of at least 28 children and infants from passenger-side air bags.

“The focus has been on the kids,” said Elaine Weinstein, chief of the safety studies division of the National Transportation Safety Board. But, she added, “People have been concerned about smaller-stature adults.”

Accident data show that air bags are more likely to cause head and neck injuries to children because of their lesser weight and size or because they are riding in a rear-facing infant seat, which can slam against the seat back when an air bag deploys.

However, the data also show that certain adults, especially smaller women, can be vulnerable to air bags on the driver’s side. Four of the women were less than 5-feet tall.

“You need to be 10 to 12 inches away from the driver-side air bag compartment, and that’s hard for people who are 5-feet tall to do,” said Weinstein.

Five of the women were elderly. The rest ranged in age from 17 to 64.

In nine of the cases, the air bags caused brain or spinal injuries--the same type of injuries suffered by children killed by air bags, because the air bags were not hitting them in the chest as intended. In at least two of those nine cases, the women were wearing seat belts.

Agency officials have been under pressure to address the problem of child air-bag deaths and have issued numerous warnings about them, but have not talked about adult air-bag deaths.

The agency has not made the deaths of smaller women an issue and top officials declined Friday to comment on the data.

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In general, the agency has said air bags saved 1,136 lives from 1986 to 1996. Driver-side air bags are said to have reduced deaths in head-on collisions by 30% and in all types of crashes, including side-impact crashes, by 11%.

A recent agency study found that both driver- and passenger-side air bags were slightly less effective overall for women than for men. Air bags reduced deaths of men in crashes by 14%, while among women deaths were reduced about 9%, the report stated.

There are about 35 million vehicles on the road with air bags, and about 15 million of those have passenger-side air bags. Air bags are mandatory on the driver side and will become mandatory on the passenger side of vehicles in model year 1998 for cars and 1999 for light trucks.