---

NAII Urges Careful Consideration Before Deactivation

18 November 1997

NAII Urges Careful Consideration Before Deactivation

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 -- Thorough consideration before any
deactivation is the key, stated one insurance official following the
announcement today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to allow on-
off air bag switches in some vehicles.
    "Not only do air bags help save lives, but they greatly reduce the number
and severity of injuries sustained in an auto accident,"  John Lobert, senior
vice president of the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII),
said.  "That is why we are urging vehicle owners who are considering
deactivating their vehicle's air bags to carefully weigh the costly
consequences of deactivation before proceeding."
    The ruling issued today by the DOT is expected to allow certain vehicle
owners to install on-off switches for their vehicle air bags.
    For two decades, Lobert said, NAII has reviewed and supported air bag
technology. To date, air bags have saved more than 2600 lives and prevented
thousands of severe injuries.  Studies have shown that the close to two
million deployments of air bags can be credited with a major reduction in
driver fatalities in frontal crashes, substantially reducing traffic crash
hospital claims, and with a 25 - 29 percent decrease in moderate-to-severe
injuries. By reducing fatalities and injuries, air bags help contain health
care expenses and, indirectly, the cost of both governmental and private
insurance programs.
    Air bag systems were engineered and intended to operate as a supplemental
restraint system to provide additional occupant protection in frontal
collisions. To provide the optimal injury prevention benefit, air bags must be
used in tandem with the vehicle's seat belts. When a collision occurs, the
vehicle rapidly decelerates while its structure absorbs the majority of the
crash forces. Occupants not wearing seat belts continue to move rapidly
forward at the vehicle's original speed until the car's interior (windshield,
steering panel, etc.) stops their movement.
    Occupants buckled up are better protected as they come to a more gradual
stop by being secured to the vehicle's structure. The air bag system
supplements the seat belt's protection by reducing the likelihood that the
occupant's head and upper body will strike part of the vehicle's interior such
as the steering wheel and the windshield. It also reduces the risk of serious
injury by distributing crash forces more evenly across the occupant's body.
The entire deployment and inflation process of the air bag takes about 1/20th
of a second.
    Also key to saving lives and reducing injuries in the advent of a car
crash is knowing how to properly secure drivers and passengers, including
young ones, when traveling in vehicles.
    "Unfortunately, even today, 40 percent of children are still riding in
cars unrestrained, and of those children who are buckled up, eight out of ten
are restrained incorrectly,"  Lobert said.
    Lobert recommends that all children 12-and-under should sit in the back
seat;  all infants under one year of age or weighing less than 20 lbs. should
be placed in the back seat in a rear-facing child safety seat, never in the
front seat of cars with a passenger-side air bag; an infant-only seat should
be replaced when it is outgrown, usually for children aged one to four and
weighing up to 40 lbs., and replaced with a forward-facing child safety seat;
and one should carefully check the vehicle owner's manual to make absolutely
sure that the child safety seat is properly installed and secured.
    For adults' safety, Lobert recommends that drivers and front-seat
passengers in an air bag-equipped car sit as far back as practical from the
air bag module, particularly shorter statured people; that drivers not
position their chest close to the steering wheel; and always wear a seat belt.

    For a free brochure on how to protect children in cars equipped with air
bags, please write to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) at
P.O. Box 1420, Arlington, Virginia  22210.  Additional information on occupant
safety can be found on the IIHS' Web site at http://www.hwysafety.org.
    The NAII is a non-profit trade association representing more than 565
property-casualty insurance companies countrywide.

SOURCE  National Association of Independent Insurers