Consumer Study Says Vertical Air Bags Are Safer

Automobile air bags that deploy vertically up the windshield are safer than air bags that pop out horizontally toward the passenger, consumer advocates said Thursday.

Forty-three deaths in low-speed crashes have been linked to air bags that inflated directly into the passenger’s chest or face, while none has been linked to vertically inflating air bags used on several models by Honda and Nissan and the 1996-97 Ford Taurus, according to a study by the consumer groups Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety.

The groups did not have a complete list of vertically deploying air bags. “This study shows some air bags are much better than others. Consumers will want to know which type they have in their cars before deciding whether to turn them off,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.

But an organization that represents auto insurance companies said the study was misleading.

“Claiming that deployment direction alone makes the difference between a ‘safe’ and a ‘dangerous’ air bag betrays a lack of knowledge about the sophistication of air bag design engineering in today’s vehicles,” Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said in a statement.

Any child on top of or very close to an air bag when it starts to deploy is at risk, regardless of the deployment direction, O’Neill said.

The consumer advocates’ study said deaths occurred in vehicles with front-deploying air bags that had “an inadequate safety zone” for the passenger. It said those included Chrysler’s Dodge Caravan, Ford’s Aspire, Contour, Escort and Mustang and General Motors’ Geo Metro.