Medical Experts and Safety Coalition: Proper Air Bag Use Saves Lives
18 November 1997
Medical Experts and Safety Coalition Remind Consumers: When Used Properly, Air Bags Save Lives and Put Few at Risk
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 -- The overwhelming majority of Americans
and their families are safer with air bags in their vehicles, as long as they
follow a few common sense safety steps:
* Always slide the seat back as far as possible and sit back;
* Buckle everyone;
* Children 12 and under ride properly restrained in the back seat.
Only a limited number of people can make themselves or their passengers
safer by turning off their air bags.
That's the message the Air Bag Safety Campaign and the American College of
Emergency Physicians, the Emergency Nurses Association, the American Academy
of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Brain Injury
Association delivered today immediately following the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration's (NHTSA) announcement allowing some vehicle owners to
install air bag on/off switches.
NHTSA's new rule permits auto makers to offer an on/off switch to people
who fit into one of four risk profiles, or who transport someone in one of the
profile groups. The four risk profiles are: those who cannot avoid placing
rear-facing infant seats in the front passenger seat; those who have a medical
condition that places them at specific risk; those who cannot adjust their
driver's position to keep back 10 inches from the steering wheel; and those
who cannot avoid situations -- such as a car pool -- that require a child 12
or under to ride in the front seat.
"NHTSA's announcement indicates that a limited number of people may want
to consider having an on/off switch installed," said Janet Dewey, Executive
Director of the Air Bag Safety Campaign. "But, most families, if they can
follow the recommended safety steps, will be safer with an air bag."
"Air bags save lives -- that's clear," said Dr. Tilman Jolly, Associate
Professor of Emergency Medicine at The George Washington University Medical
Center (GWUMC). "Only a very limited number of people would actually benefit,
medically, from deactivating their air bags. Most people are much better off
with their air bags left on." Dr. Jolly directed a conference of medical
specialists, convened by GWUMC at NETSA's request, that studied the medical
indications necessary for air bag disconnection and, today, released its
findings.
The Final Report of the National Conference on Medical Indications for Air
Bag Disconnection identifies the categories of people who, for medical
reasons, should consider installing an on/off switch. The report concludes
that air bags only pose unacceptable risks to people who suffer from rare
conditions such as achondroplasia (short limbs) or severe scoliosis.
While NHTSA's rule permits people who must transport children in the front
seat to have an on/off switch installed, a recent study by Ford Motor Company
shows that only 3.5 percent of children involved in car crashes had to be
placed in the front seat because there were not enough rear seats in the
vehicle. The percentage of children actually seated in the front seats (39
percent) was ten times larger than the percentage of children who had to be
seated in the front seats (3.5 percent).
"Right now, when people are evaluating their choices regarding air bags
they want the facts," said Dewey. "And, the facts are, according to crash
investigations, almost all of the people who've died from air bag-related
injuries were either unrestrained, improperly restrained or sitting too close
to an air bag when it deployed." To date, air bags have saved more than 2,600
lives. In roughly 1.8 million air bag deployments, 38 adults and 49 children
have been killed.
"The leading risk our children face is not air bags -- it's being
unrestrained in a crash," said Dr. Marilyn Bull, Member of the American
Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention and a
Conference participant. "The risks that air bags pose to children can be
entirely eliminated when kids ride properly restrained in the back seat. In
fact, the back seat is the safest place for children, whether or not your car
has an air bag."
NHTSA estimates that the combination of an air bag plus a lap/shoulder
belt produces the risk of serious head injury by 75 percent, compared with a
38 percent reduction for belts alone. Air bags reduce the risk of fatal
injury by 14 percent in all crashes.
"The steering wheel itself is a primary cause of serious head injury to
drivers during a crash," said George A. Zitnay, Ph.D., President and CEO of
the Brain Injury Association. "That is why it is important to sit back as far
as possible from the steering wheel whether or not the vehicle is equipped
with air bags."
Air bags must come out fast to create the instant buffer that, with safety
belts, protects people from serious injuries in a head on collision. During
pre-crash braking, unrestrained drivers and passengers may be thrown against
the hub of the steering wheel or dashboard, where the air bags are housed.
Individuals who are not wearing their lap and shoulder belts and/or are riding
too close to where the air bag is housed can receive serious or even fatal
injuries from deploying air bags.
According to NHTSA, 49 children have died as a result of serious fatal
head or neck injuries caused by an air bag. According to crash
investigations, virtually all of these children were unrestrained or
improperly restrained. Of those who were improperly restrained, twelve were
infants riding in rear-facing child safety seats that were improperly placed
in front of a passenger air bag, two five year olds and a two year old each
weighing under 40 pounds were wearing adult lap and shoulder belts, and others
had slipped the shoulder strap behind them.
The Air Bag Safety Campaign is an intensive education and action campaign
by a public/private partnership of automobile manufacturers, insurance
companies, occupant restraint manufacturers, government agencies, health
professionals, and child health and safety organizations. The goal of the
campaign is to increase the proper use of safety belts and child safety seats
and to inform the public about how to maximize the lifesaving capabilities of
air bags while minimizing the risks.
SOURCE Air Bag Safety Campaign
