Under the new standards, the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require airbags to protect vehicle occupants in a 25 mph crash test. The standard will be phased in over three years, starting with 2004 model year vehicles. The rules could add $21 to $128 in 1997 dollars to the cost of a new vehicle, NHTSA said.
The 25 mph test will not require the airbags to inflate as forcefully as a 30 mph test. The lower-power airbags are though to reduce the risk injury for children and smaller adults.
Although airbags have saved 5,415 lives since they were required in 1991, 158 persons have died from the force of airbags deployed in crashes, according to the department's statistics. Almost 60 percent of those 158 deaths were children.
"We feel confident in our decision," said Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who called the rules "one of the most comprehensive advancements to safety in decades. We want to preserve the life-saving effects of airbags, but we have been deeply concerned about the harm to some people."
The rules are "a lifesaving victory for passengers of all sizes," said Josephine Cooper, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler AG and eight other automakers that produce 90 percent of vehicle sold in the U.S.
However, Joan Claybrook, president of the Washington-based consumer-advocacy group, Public Citizen, said, "The auto industry traded on the tragic deaths of children and others killed by airbags to scare the White House into issuing a weak 25 mph standard."
The rules also create other new tests, including a 25-mph crash in which 40 percent of a vehicle carrying a short adult dummy hits a rigid barrier. The new tests will also attempt to recreate real-world conditions by placing child dummies in child seats on the passenger seat and in unbelted sitting, kneeling, standing and lying positions. The new rules also require on/off switches for airbags and tighten design criteria to make them more effective in reducing injuries.
Also, a new group of test dummies was created to study crash impacts on people of differing ages and sizes. The new "family" consist of the Hybrid III 5th percentile small female (5.1", 105 lbs.), Hybrid III Six year old (40.5", 50.2 lbs.), Hybrid III Three year old (37", 34.7 lbs.), and CRABI infant 12 month old (29.5", 22.1 lbs.). The new dummies are additions to the Hybrid III 50th mid size male dummy already in federal regulation. The dummies have many sensors located throughout the simulated human body dummy which measure forces during a crash.