Keep Air Bag Away, Study Says In Wake Of Recent Deaths, Urges Maintaining 10 Inches Of Space

Keeping 10 inches between you and the air bag tucked in your steering wheel or dashboard will save you from being injured or killed by the safety device.

That’s the message federal safety officials are preparing to issue next month, as a key part of a long-awaited rule that will chip away at a federal mandate requiring air bags in cars and trucks.

Responding to the public’s fear from the 76 deaths caused by the explosive inflation of air bags, the government will issue a final rule that will let anyone ask a dealer to permanently disable an air bag or install on-off switches for the devices.

But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hopes that the 10-inch advice and other tips will discourage all but a very few owners from deactivating air bags, which are credited with saving 3,000 lives and preventing untold injuries since 1990.

While air bags have been blamed for the deaths of 43 children and 28 women, all under 5-foot-5, NHTSA is now convinced that the risk of injury or death depends not on how small or short you are - but on how close you are to the air bag when it deploys.

Officials of the safety agency say they believe that short women - out of habit rather than necessity - often sit too close to the wheel. Many children get too close because they don’t sit still with their backs in the car seat.

“Everybody has come to agree that the issue is proximity, not height, age or gender,” said Philip Recht, NHTSA’s deputy administrator. “We know that you are at the greatest risk if you are sitting within 3 inches of the air bag when it deploys, and after that the risk falls off sharply.”

As a result, the safety agency has spent the past eight months coming up with a recommended 10-inch safety zone and crafting advice designed to prevent a rush to dealerships and discourage people - as many as 10 million vehicle owners, by one estimate - from disabling air bags.

NHTSA officials are keeping mum on the specifics in the rule, but the agency essentially laid out its advice in congressional testimony months ago.

The agency says it believe the risk of injury or death by air bags can be nearly eliminated if people follow this advice:

Adults should buckle up, sit back 10 inches from the steering wheel or dashboard, and properly buckle children under age 13 in back seats.

Even children and short drivers, NHTSA says, can comfortably maintain the 10-inch safe zone. But because children don’t sit still, they should be buckled in rear seats.

To make sure drivers and passengers are 10 inches back, NHTSA may suggest drivers and passengers put an 8-1/2 by 11-inch book or piece of paper between their chests and the steering wheels or dashboards, and push back their seats or tilt the seat backs until it fits.

Automakers oppose on-demand deactivation because they believe air bags save lives and dealers are afraid they’ll be sued by people injured after their air bags are disabled.