Deaths From Air Bags Down Significantly, Study Finds

Deaths caused by air bags have declined dramatically since 1996, when 35 people--19 of them children--were killed in mostly slow-speed crashes, according to a study to be released today by the National Safety Council.

Traffic fatalities attributed to air bags were cut in half by 2000, even as the number of automobiles equipped with the front-seat devices more than tripled. And so far this year, federal safety officials said, there have been no confirmed fatalities attributed to air bags--a safety feature designed to deploy quickly in a high-impact crash.

“When we look back at where we were five years ago when almost nightly there was another horror story about a child being killed by an air bag, we’ve come a long way,” said Phil Haseltine, president of the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety Inc., an automobile manufacturer-funded group that has worked closely with the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign.

The campaign, sponsored by a coalition of automobile companies working with federal safety officials, has spent about $37 million since 1996 to educate drivers about the potential risks of air bags. Air bags have proved dangerous for children under 12, the elderly and small adults unable to withstand the force of the air bag opening. Additionally, anyone seated too close to an air bag risks injury if it deploys.

The rash of air bag-related deaths in 1996, nearly triple the previously reported high, prompted some concerned parents to call for the removal of the devices, which had long been touted as a tool to substantially reduce deaths in serious automobile accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that air bags have saved the lives of 8,645 people since 1987, including 7,224 of them since 1996.

“Like any safety device, they need to be used properly,” Haseltine said. “That means they need to be used with a seat belt, that children under 12 should never sit in a front passenger seat equipped with an air bag. That’s the message that was missing five years ago and that’s the message that for the most part Americans know today.”

To monitor public awareness and behavior, the National Safety Council surveyed about 600 drivers from October 1996 to June 2001 who regularly drive with children 12 and younger in the vehicle. They found significant jumps in the awareness of possible air bag risks. For example:

* 91% of drivers in 2001 said they knew air bags could be dangerous for children younger than 12, up from 65% in 1996.

* 96% of drivers in 2001 said they knew the back seat was the safest place for a child, compared to 79% in 1996.

* 94% of drivers in 2001 said they knew an infant seat should never be placed in the front seat of a vehicle, compared to 78% in 1996.

* 78% of those surveyed in 2001 said they knew an air bag could pose a risk to any driver or passenger sitting too close, while 43% said they knew that in 1996.

That increased awareness, together with more sophisticated technology in today’s air bags, has contributed to a 90% reduction in the rate of child deaths attributed to air bags since 1996--from 1 child fatality for every 870,000 passenger air bags to 1 for every 8.9 million passenger air bags in 2000.

But Haseltine and other traffic safety advocates said that while they are pleased with the progress, they are concerned about a new generation of car owners--many of them buying used cars with older, less technologically advanced air bags--who might not be getting the message. For example, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hasn’t confirmed any deaths in the first half of this year, the agency is investigating five child fatalities in which air bags may have played a role.

“We’ve got a little way to go,” he said. “We’d like the deaths to be at zero.”