These Dummies Are Life Savers

While the use of crash-test dummies and airbags have made cars safer for passengers, the federal government plans to implement stricter safety measures, reports CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan.

Transportation officials announced that automakers will be required to install more advanced air bags in new cars in an effort to save hundreds of lives in high-speed crashes and prevent deaths caused by inflating air bags.

They also proposed expanding the usual adult male crash-test dummy to models that would represent an entire family.

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said that "groundbreaking technology is just around the corner" and predicted Americans will soon have "the safest air bags in the world."

Although air bags have saved an estimated 3,448 lives, they have been blamed for killing at least 113 people since 1990 -- mostly child passengers or short female drivers who were too close to air bags when they deployed in low-speed accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The safety agency wants tests with dummies the size of 6- and 3-year-old children, a 1-year-old in a rear-facing infant seat and a 4-foot-11 woman.

Ricardo Martinez, head of the NHTSA, said the new, advanced air bags could save an additional 400 lives a year. Nearly 42,000 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents last year.

The new air bag systems would be phased in over three years, starting in September 2002. Slater estimated it would add up to $162 to the cost of each vehicle.

Dummy in position (CBS)

Automakers would be allowed to use technology that either prevents an air bag from deploying or deploys it without harming passengers at risk. It would be up to manufacturers to pursue promising designs in air bag systems to meet the variety of new tests.

The plan met with a mixed reaction from automakers already competing to install better air bag systems. Domestic automakers, some of whom have already invested heavily in airbag technology, said they would fight bringing back a 30 mph crash test.

The dummy tests themselves would be different under the new rules. There would be more tests and would include the testing of dummies in places where they are not supposed to be, like children who are seated too close to the dashboard instead of in the back seat.

Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, said some foreign automakers have already come up with airbag designs capable of high-speed protection without putting drivers and passengers at risk in minor accidens.

The consumer group also said the concern about unbelted occupants in severe crashes is well-founded. Half of the people killed in road accidents were not wearing seatbelts, despite annual buckle-up campaigns, said Public Citizen president Joan Claybrook. "It's not like we've solved the problem of the unbelted passenger," she said.