Air bags have proven to be highly effective in reducing fatalities from frontal crashes, the most prevalent fatality and injury-causing type of crash. Frontal crashes cause 64 percent of all driver and right-front passenger fatalities.
NHTSA estimates that, between 1986 and June 1, 1998, air bags have saved about 3,148 drivers and passengers (2,725 drivers (87 percent) and 423 passengers (13 percent)).(10) Of the 3,148, 2,267 (72 percent) were unbelted and 881 (28 percent) were belted. These agency estimates are based on comparisons of the frequency of front seat occupant deaths in vehicles without air bags and in vehicles with air bags. Approximately half of those lives were saved in the last two years. These savings occurred primarily in moderate and high speed crashes.
Pursuant to the mandate in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) for the installation of air bags in all passenger cars and light trucks, the number of air bags in vehicles on the road will increase each year. As a result, the annual number of lives saved by air bags will continue to increase each year. Based on current levels of effectiveness, air bags will save more than 3,200 lives each year in passenger cars and light trucks when all light vehicles on the road are equipped with dual air bags. This estimate is based on current seat belt use rates (about 69 percent, according to State-reported surveys).
While air bags are saving large numbers of people in moderate and high speed crashes, they sometimes cause fatalities, especially to children, in lower speed crashes. As of June 1, 1998, NHTSA's Special Crash Investigation program had confirmed a total of 105 crashes in which the deployment of an air bag resulted in fatal injuries. Sixty-one of those fatalities involved children. Four adult passengers have also been fatally injured. Forty drivers are known to have been fatally injured.
Just as the number of lives saved per year will rise as more vehicles are equipped with air bags, so will the number of fatalities caused by air bags, absent either advanced air bags or changes in occupant behavior. Using the year 2000 as a point of reference, if all passenger vehicles on the road were equipped with air bags, air bags would save 3,215 lives annually. However, there would be 214 fatalities annually--33 infants in rear facing child seats, 129 other children, 41 drivers, and 11 adult passengers.
It is important to note that these estimates are based on pre-model year 1998 air bags and on the assumption that there are no changes in occupant demographics, driver/passenger behavior, belt use, child restraint use, or the percent of children sitting in the front seat. However, as noted above, changes have already occurred that have reduced the potential number of fatalities. Manufacturers redesigned most air bags for model year 1998 to reduce the adverse effects of air bags. Moreover, additional changes are anticipated. As public education programs succeed in creating better awareness of occupant safety issues, and as auto manufacturers voluntarily continue to improve their air bags, the potential adverse effects of air bags will be further reduced. Nonetheless, the agency believes that the air bag fatalities that have occurred to date, and the potentially much larger number of air bag fatalities that could occur when all light vehicles are equipped with air bags, demonstrate the need for regulatory action in this area.
