Driver Air Bag Police Fleet Demonstration Program – A 15-Month Progress Report

The objective of this program was to design, test, evaluate, manufacture and install in 500 state highway patrol vehicles, a driver air bag retrofit system.

Air bag system benefits are universally accepted. However, the costs, complexities and availabilities of these systems are widely misunderstood. This program takes much of the “mystery” out of the air bag and demonstrates to fleet operators and to the public at large that air bag technology, components and systems do presently exist and can be acquired at a reasonable cost.

The following paper provides a description of the system, the tests which were conducted, the installation procedures and field experience with the 500 car fleet.