Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection; Review: Fatality Reduction by Air Bags; Evaluation Report

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. 74-14; Notice 102]

RIN 2127-AD82

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash

Protection; Review: Fatality Reduction by Air Bags; Evaluation Report

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),

Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Request for comments on technical report.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the publication by NHTSA of a Technical

Report concerning Safety Standard 208, Occupant Crash Protection. The

report's title is Fatality Reduction by Air Bags--Analyses of Accident

Data through Early 1996. It evaluates the front-seat occupant fatality

rates of current passenger cars and light trucks equipped with air

bags, and compares them to the fatality rates of similar vehicles

without air bags.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than January 8, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Report: Interested people may obtain a copy of the report

free of charge by sending a self-addressed mailing label to

Publications Ordering and Distribution Services (NAD-51), National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590.

Comments: All comments should refer to the docket and notice number

of this notice and be submitted to: Docket Section, Room 5109, Nassif

Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington DC 20590. [Docket hours,

9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles J. Kahane, Chief, Evaluation

Division, Plans and Policy, National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, Room 5208, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590

(202-366-2560).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Safety Standard 208 (49 CFR 571.208)

requires automatic occupant protection, such as air bags or automatic

belts, to be phased into passenger cars (1987-90) and light trucks

(1995-98). As mandated by the Intermodal Surface Transportation

Efficiency Act of 1991, driver and passenger air bags plus manual 3-

point

[[Page 53261]]

belts will be required in all cars manufactured on or after September

1, 1997 and light trucks on or after September 1, 1998.

Pursuant to Executive Order 12286, NHTSA is evaluating the occupant

protection program to determine the effectiveness, benefits, costs,

performance characteristics and public acceptance of automatic occupant

protection and the nationwide effort to increase belt use. Under the

Executive Order, agencies review existing regulations to determine if

they are achieving the Order's policy goals. An evaluation plan was

issued in 1990 (56 FR 1586). A June 1992 interim report (57 FR 30293)

showed that increased use of manual belts, air bags, and automatic

belts were all contributing to a reduction of fatalities and injuries.

The current report focuses on fatality reduction by air bags. It is

based on statistical analyses of accident data from the Fatal Accident

Reporting System (FARS) from 1986 through early 1996. The principal

conclusion is that driver air bags save lives. The fatality reduction

benefit of air bags for all drivers is an estimated 11 percent; this

percentage is essentially unchanged from previous analyses by NHTSA

staff. New, positive findings are that driver air bags save lives in

light trucks and in small cars, that passenger air bags save lives of

right-front passengers age 13 or older, and that driver air bags

provide a significant supplemental life-saving benefit for the driver

who buckles up (as well as saving lives of unbelted drivers). On the

other hand, preliminary analyses of limited accident data show a higher

fatality risk for child passengers age 0-12 in cars with current dual

air bags than in cars without a passenger air bag. Also, current air

bags may have diminished, or even negligible benefits for drivers age

70 or older, and they do not have a statistically significant effect

for drivers of any age group in oblique-frontal crashes.

NHTSA welcomes public review of the technical report and invites

the reviewers to submit comments about the data and the statistical

methods used in the report. The agency is interested in learning of any

additional data that could be used to expand or improve the analyses,

including information on individual accident cases involving vehicles

equipped with air bags.

If a commenter wishes to submit certain information under a claim

of confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including

purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to

the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above, and 7

copies from which the purportedly confidential information has been

deleted should be submitted to the Docket Section. A request for

confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter setting forth

the information specified in the agency's confidential business

information regulation. (49 CFR Part 512).

All comments received before the close of business on the comment

closing date will be considered, and will be available for examination

in the docket at the above address both before and after that date. To

the extent possible, comments filed after the closing date will also be

considered. The NHTSA will continue to file relevant information as it

becomes available in the docket after the closing date, and it is

recommended that interested people continue to examine the docket for

new material.

People desiring to be notified upon receipt of their comments in

the rules docket should enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in

the envelope with their comments. Upon receiving the comments, the

docket supervisor will return the postcard by mail.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30168; delegation of authority at 49

CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

William H. Walsh,

Associate Administrator for Plans and Policy.

[FR Doc. 96-26023 Filed 10-9-96; 8:45 am]

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