FIGHT BACK!  BY DAVID HOROWITZ

Airbags and Infants 

        As dual airbags become standard on more and more pas- senger vehicles, safety experts 
have spotted what they say is  a potential hazard with those devices. It involves infants  riding in 
rear-facing car seats.
        In order to protect the passenger, an airbag must deploy  instantly in a crash, which means 
it must inflate with con- siderable force. Crash tests have shown that when the bag  strikes a 
rear-facing car seat, it can throw the baby out of  the seat and face-first into the seat headrest or 
between the  two front seats. So far, there have been no reports of in- fants injured in this type 
of accident. But the Department of  Transportation says it doesn't want to wait until a child is  
hurt to deal with the problem.
        The simplest and most effective solution is to install  the infant carrier in the back seat. The 
center position is  the safest. Parents can also install a second rear view  mirror so they can 
keep an eye on the child from the driver's  seat. If the child has a special medical problem or the 
 parents are nervous about leaving the child in the back seat,  they should ask someone else to 
drive so they can ride in the  back with the baby. The National Highway Traffic Safety  
Administration now requires labels on infant car seats  warning about the dangers of having the 
seat up front with  the driver.
        As soon as the child is able to ride in a front-facing  car seat (he or she must be at least 20 
pounds or a year  old), then it's no longer a problem. Those seats, properly  installed, work with 
airbags to protect the child. These  precautions are only for infant seats.
        What about sports cars and light trucks that have no  back seats? Transportation Secretary 
Federico Pena suggested  recently that vehicles without rear seats should have a  cutoff switch 
to disable the airbag on the passenger's side.  A yellow warning light would alert the driver that 
the bag  had been disabled.
        There is still some question about exactly how that  switch should work. Pena favors a 
manual system, where the  passenger airbag would be switched on and off. That would  
presumably keep parents from forgetting to deactivate the  airbag on stop-and-go trips. On the 
other hand, the Center  for Auto Safety favors a switch that automatically resets so  that drivers 
can't forget to turn it on again. Either way,  the switch would add only $5 to $10 to the cost of a 
new car,  and the American Automobile Manufacturers Association has  already said it approves 
of the idea.
        The cutoff switch is a short term solution, and the  rule, if adopted, would be in effect for 
only two years.  During that time, car makers expect to come up with fully  automated devices to 
deactivate the airbag when a rear-facing  car seat is installed. ***
        Volvo this year is introducing a new type of airbag, one  designed to protect passengers 
from side impact crashes. In  addition to the bags in the steering wheel and dashboard, the  1995 
Volvo 850 Turbo will feature bags built into the  driver's and passenger's seats. Each bag is 
about a foot long  and 5 inches in diameter. In a side crash, the bags deploy  forward between 
the door and the driver or passenger.
        The new side airbags are standard on the Turbo, and a  $500 option on other 850 models. 
Volvo intends to offer them  on other models within a year.
        If you have any questions or comments, please write to  David Horowitz in the Consumer 
Forum+ (go FIGHTBACK). COPYRIGHT 1994 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.