Airbag Kills One Year-Old Girl

12/02/96

The Associated Press reported that an airbag deployed in a fender-bender accident in Boise, Idaho, decapitating a one year-old girl. Police said the girl, Alexandra Greer, was riding with her mother, Rebecca Blackman, in the front seat of a Volkswagen Jetta when the accident occurred. The child was sitting in a forward-facing child safety seat when her mother rear-ended a car that had just entered a mall parking lot. The Jetta's passenger side air bag deployed at full force, killing the child. Referring to the airbag, Police Lieutenant Tim Rosenvall said, "it otherwise would have been a minor traffic accident."

The accident involving Alexandra brings the toll of children killed by airbags in low speed crashes they could have otherwise survived to thirty-two. Twenty adults, mostly smaller women, have died in similar crashes.

Public concern about the dangers that airbags pose to children has led the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require strongly worded warning labels about air bags in new cars. The federal agency is also considering changing laws that govern the installation and mechanics of airbags. The agency warns motorists that children under 12 can be killed by a passenger-side air bags and should ride in the back seat with seat belts fastened. Small adults and children who sit in front of air bags should wear seat belts, and parents should never put a baby in a rear-facing child seat in front of an air bag.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel