Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cornell.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!vax135!cornell!ddw From: ddw@cornell.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Air Bags Message-ID: <4721@cornell.UUCP> Date: Mon, 27-Jun-83 12:17:35 EDT Article-I.D.: cornell.4721 Posted: Mon Jun 27 12:17:35 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 28-Jun-83 20:30:42 EDT Sender: ddw@cornell.UUCP Organization: Cornell Computer Science Lines: 27 From: ddw (David Wright) To: net-flame The Supreme Court ruled this week that the Reagan Administration was "arbitrary and capricious" in revoking air bag requirements, since they had shown no good reason for doing so. What the upshot of this will be is of course unknown, but my guess is that the DOT will suddenly discover oodles of good reasons for deep-sixing the requirement. Howls of protest from the auto industry to the contrary, air bags have been quite extensively tested and worked well indeed. GM had a whole bunch of cars equipped with air bags out on the roads a few years ago. They racked up many millions of miles in thousands of cars. This is from memory (I think I read it in Consumer Reports) but during the entire test period, there were only 8-10 improper triggerings of the air bags, and all but one or two took place while the car was being serviced. One of the others was a passenger-side bag that went off with nobody in the passenger seat. Not sure about the rest, if there were any. As far as I know, the stories about hearing damage from the noise of the bags inflating is are just that -- stories. Also, with air bags you don't need to wear a shoulder belt, although you do need a lap belt to keep you in place, especially in side collisions where the air bag doesn't do you much good. David Wright {vax135|decvax|purdue}!cornell!ddw ddw@cornell