Middle Lane

Bags, belts--and a loophole

It has been 15 years since the Government first recommended that air bags be required in all passenger cars. Since then, wrangling among politicians, consumer advocates and the auto industry has delayed the controversial measure, which safety experts estimate could reduce highway deaths by up to 40% (the 1983 U.S. toll: 43,028). Last week Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole finally came up with a resolution, of sorts. She proposed that mandatory passive restraints--air bags that inflate and then rapidly deflate upon collision or seat belts that automatically wrap around riders when they close their doors--be phased in beginning 1986. But she added a major loophole: the regulation would be rescinded should enough states enact laws requiring the use of manual seat belts.

Under Dole's plan, front-seat automatic belts or air bags must be installed in 10% of 1987-model American cars, and in all new U.S. cars by 1990, Most experts expect the auto companies to opt for the $40 automatic seat belt over the more costly air bag ($320 by Dole's reckoning; $800 according to Detroit). She also announced that the Government would launch a $40 million annual campaign, half of it funded by the auto industry, to promote mandatory seat-belt legislation. If states containing two-thirds of the population pass such laws before April 1989, the Government will revoke its order.

The only state that has passed mandatory seat-belt legislation is New York. Governor Mario Cuomo signed the bill into law last week. Seat-belt laws have failed in ten other state legislatures, most recently in the Illinois senate, where lawmakers last month were deluged with letters from constituents opposed to the bill. Legislative Aide Frank Williams said that the general tone of the mail was "You don't tell me what to do in my own automobile." Only an estimated 13% of U.S. auto passengers use their seat belts. In Ontario, Canada, which for eight years has had a law making the failure to use seat belts punishable by a $53 fine, 39% of drivers still refuse to buckle up.* The most vigorous opponents of the Dole plan are safety activists and insurance companies who have lobbied persistently for mandatory air bags rather than the intrusive, easily detachable automatic seat belts favored by the auto industry. "It's a bloody snare and a mischievous delusion," said Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader. "I didn't believe [the Government] could be so Machiavellian in giving the auto companies a chance to do in the air bag once and for all." The State Farm Insurance Co. and the National Association of Independent Insurers have filed a suit claiming that Dole's order is illegal in allowing state legislatures the power to rule out passive-restraint installations by approving seat-belt laws.

Despite the huge loophole in the Dole order, the plan was also criticized by many in the auto industry who cringe at the idea of installing expensive safety devices. "I regret the necessity of this kind of ruling," said Chrysler Chairman Lee lacocca. "The best safety device, the lap and shoulder belt, is in 100 million cars right now." American Motors Chairman Paul Tippett is concerned about the 1987 model-year deadline for passive restraints. Said he: "The worst thing is to deliver air bags or seat belts that are not right."

President Reagan has consistently opposed mandatory passive restraints. In 1981, Drew Lewis, Dole's predecessor as Transportation Secretary, killed a Carter Administration order requiring them in all new cars by 1984. The Supreme Court, however, overturned that ruling and directed the Transportation Department to review the issue yet again. Although Dole says that Reagan approved her plan "as the most prudent way to go," the White House has tried to distance the President from the actual decision. "The court had us boxed in," said a White House aide. "What we did was as little as we could get away with." Advocates of auto safety could not have said it better. -

* Among the 30 countries that have strict seat-belt laws: Great Britain, Sweden, Japan and Israel.