04/29/96 IN SEARCH OF A SAFER AIR BAG

IN SEARCH OF A SAFER AIR BAG

Snap, crumple, pop. It's the most reassuring sequence of sounds that can be heard during a car accident. After the shocking snap of metal smashing into metal comes the crumple of the car's reinforced steel structure absorbing the impact. Last is the pop of air bags inflating to cushion occupants.
Air bags, which began gaining popularity in the late 1980s, are already on 48 million U.S. vehicles. They're credited with saving more than 1,500 lives--a figure that should grow to 4,000 by yearend as air bags show up on more vehicles. Yet even as the auto industry is stuffing air bags into more places inside cars than ever before, it is struggling to make the safety devices safer. Worried about dozens of reported air-bag-related deaths, companies are racing to install high-tech sensors to soften the blow when an air bag hits a tiny occupant. ``Carmakers are spending billions to make air bags smarter,'' says Charles Hurley, senior vice-president at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
FATAL. Oddly enough, it is air bags' life-saving rapid fire power that has become a hazard to some. To catch people quickly in an accident, air bags explode into the passenger compartment at 150 miles per hour. That has proven to be a fatal force for 36 occupants who were too small and too close. ``Air bags are designed for adult bodies, not for children,'' says Volvo spokesman Dan Johnston. Volvo advises owners to keep kids out of harm's way by strapping them into the backseat.
Another important piece of advice to parents is not to place rear-facing child seats in front of air bags, because deployment could break an infant's neck. Four such deaths have been recorded so far. By the end of the decade, federal regulators will require carmakers to install bags that automatically shut off when a child seat is riding up front.
For now, auto makers are offering stopgap measures, such as a key-activated switch on the Ford F-150 and Ranger pickups that shuts off the passenger bag. ``The problem is an immediate one,'' says Bill Eagleson, Ford's manager for occupant protection. ``Every day, we're making bags designed with some inflation-injury risk.''
Some 20 deaths have been reported involving small women driving too close to the steering wheel when the bag deployed. And a dozen fatalities occurred among children 3 to 9. Investigators say the children were not wearing seat belts. However, the grandfather of a 5-year-old Utah boy killed last fall contends the child was wearing a seat belt. He's suing General Motors and air-bag maker Morton International.
To confront the growing problem, the auto industry is developing sensors that can detect an occupant's size and adjust the speed and size of a deployed bag accordingly. Some sensors could even disable the bag if a briefcase or newspaper occupies the front passenger seat. Optimistic suppliers say such systems could be in place by 2001, but carmakers think it will take a decade. ``You sure don't want an air bag not to function because your passenger is reading a newspaper,'' says Wendell Lane, director of engineering at air-bag maker AlliedSignal.
MARSHMALLOWS. The need for smarter air bags is growing acute. Within five years, bags bursting from doors, seats, roofs, headrests, and below the dashboard are expected to join the driver's and passenger's devices, turning car interiors into giant marshmallows in accidents of the future.
Already, Volvo offers side-impact bags that deploy from the front seats. Mercedes-Benz has bags that pop out of the doors. This summer, BMW will also offer door-mounted bags, while the Kia Sportage from Korea will feature a bag that swells out of the dash to reduce knee injuries. BMW will offer another twist in early 1997, when it introduces a tubular bag that springs from the interior roof above the driver's and passenger's doors to protect heads.
Side air bags are likely to catch on faster than front air bags did. ``By the '99 model year, just about every car made will have side bags, and trucks will have them by 2002,'' says DRI/McGraw-Hill analyst Lincoln Merrihew. That is, if carmakers and suppliers can hold down prices. Front bags now add about $100 to a car's cost.
Once the side bags are established up front, they're expected to migrate into the backseat--the kids' safe haven. But if the pop of air bags is going to be as reassuring to children as it is to adults, the auto industry has to step on the gas to make them safer.
EDITED BY AMY DUNKIN By Keith Naughton