National Highway Safety Official Visits State To Explain New Air Bag Procedures
18 November 1997
National Highway Safety Official Visits State To Explain New Air Bag ProceduresWHAT: NATIONAL HIGHWAY SAFETY OFFICIAL TO EXPLAIN TODAY'S AIR BAG DEACTIVATION ANNOUNCEMENT WHEN: 1O A.M. WEDNESDAY, Nov. 19, CAROLINAS MEDICAL CENTER, CHARLOTTE 2 P.M. WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19, WAKE MEDICAL CENTER, RALEIGH RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 18 -- A representative from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will visit Charlotte and Raleigh on Wednesday, Nov. 19, to explain in detail today's announcement of new national air bag deactivation procedures. Romell Cooks, NHTSA regional program manager, will hold a news conference 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the Carolinas Heart Institute Conference Room at Carolinas Medical Center, 1000 Blythe Boulevard, Charlotte. She will be joined by Dr. Jeff Runge, Clinical Research Director and Assistant Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the hospital. Cooks will hold a second news conference 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Conference Dining Room 5-6 at WakeMed, 3000 New Bern Ave., Raleigh. Dr. Dale Oller, Director of Trauma Services at WakeMed, also will speak. Cooks will explain NHTSA's announcement today that, beginning Jan. 19, 1998, NHTSA will permit repair shops and dealers to install key- operated on-off switches that allow air bags in passenger cars and light trucks to be turned on and off in appropriate circumstances. Dealers and repair shops cannot perform this work without an authorization letter from NHTSA. Vehicle owners and lessees in four specific at-risk groups can get this authorization letter by filling out a form developed by NHTSA and sending it to the agency. Cooks will explain the overall procedure for requesting an air bag on-off switch and identify the four instances in which vehicle owners and lessees can get on-off switches installed: For both the driver and passenger sides: -- Individuals with medical conditions where the risks of a deploying air bag exceed the risk of impacting the steering wheel in the absence of an air bag. For the driver side, in addition to medical conditions: -- Individuals who cannot position themselves to properly operate the vehicle with the center of their breastbone at least 1O inches back from the center of the air bag cover. For the passenger side, in addition to medical conditions: -- Individuals with the need to transport an infant in a rear-facing child restraint in the front seat because the vehicle has no rear seat, the rear seat is too small to accommodate a rear-facing child restraint, or because it is necessary to constantly monitor the child's medical condition. -- Individuals with the need to carry children between 1 and 12 years old in the front seat because the vehicle has no rear seat, the consumer must carry more children than can be accommodated in the rear seat, or because it is necessary to constantly monitor a child's medical condition. SOURCE Governor's Highway Safety Program