Recent Regulatory History of Air Bags

The recent experience in this country with serious and fatal injuries to children and some adults caused by air bags in moderate and low speed crashes has generated considerable activity at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to address this situation. The recent federal regulatory history on air bags, beginning in August of 1996 to the present, provides a look at this portion of NHTSA's efforts to reduce the serious side effects of air bag deployments. This paper will discuss notices of proposed rulemaking and final rules relating to new warning labels, the depowering of air bags and the deactivation of air bags.