Re: Gov't on airbags

[Ivan Sever <sever@husc.harvard.edu>]

On Fri, 22 Nov 1996 15:01:28 -0500 (EST) Psycho Bob
<honge@creighton.edu> wrote:

>As most of you may already know out there... Although airbags saves a
>lot
>of adults, there are reports of young children being killed due to the
>inflation rate of deploying air bags. The first "thought" government
>thought up was to regulate the inflation rate of future air bags. But
>that
>seems to be a hassle with 'em.
>
>So, instead of that, the dealer is now authorized to disconnect the air
>bags permanently. The purchaser is required to sign a waiver to the
>dealer
>and to the manufacturer...

A couple of points here:
1. No-one knows how many lives were actually saved by airbags. But, the
official government estimates range between 75 and 1400 at the most. And
let's not forget it was the US government that mandated the airbags in
the first place. Now, is that a lot of lives saved? (There 50 million
airbag equipped cars on US roads today.)
2. In addition to 30 children killed by airbags, 24 adult women were
also killed by airbags and they had one thing in common: All were under
5"4" tall. (64% of US women are under that height.) 
That's why the dealers are allowed to disconnect the airbags. Because
short adults cannot drive from the back seat...

Ivan
97A4Q