Air-Bag Accidents Prompt Warnings

The National Transportation Safety Board wants to get this message out about automobile air bags: If the safety devices are not used properly, they can kill.

The Washington, D.C. board Thursday distributed recommendations to media outlets, hospitals and car manufacturers following a number of recent accidents in which children were killed by the safety device, including a boy in North Salt Lake.

On Oct. 10, 5-year-old Jordan West was riding in the passenger's side of his grandmother's 1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 when the car struck a cement planter box, at a low speed.

The air bag on the passenger's side deployed and twisted the boy's head, killing him. His grandmother, Lynn Oliver, insists he was wearing his seat belt.

Investigators initially wondered if Jordan's death was "a fluke," but NTSB officials have discovered eight incidents in the last 13 months that show air bags -when not used properly- can be dangerous, said NTSB Investigator Larry Yohe.

Of the eight accidents, six resulted in fatalities and two with serious injuries. Four involved infants in rear-facing child-restraint seats in the front seat.

Yohe was in North Salt Lake for about a week to investigate Jordan's death. The car showed little signs of damage, and officials from NTSB and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ruled the air bag killed the boy. Neither agency could tell if the victim had been wearing his seat belt.

Yohe's probe is part of a national study on child-safety restraint systems. A report is due next summer. Thursday's recommendations resulted from the study.

The NTSB recommends:

• A nationwide media blitz about the dangers of placing a rear-facing child safety seat in the front seat of a car with dual air bags.
• Conducting a mail campaign to warn owners of vehicles with dual air bags and owners of child-safety seats about the dangers.
• Having hospitals with obstetrics units and birth education associations warn parents who had babies in the last year about the dangers of placing a child-restraint seat in the front.

The safety board also wants the manufacturer of a 1990 video, "Getting It Right," to provide new information about the dangers of putting a child-safety seat in the front seat of a vehicle. The video is played in a number of hospital maternity wards. It incorrectly states that parents should place child seats in the front seat.

"It was made at a time before there were a lot of dual air bags," said NTSB spokesman Alan Pollock. "We want to see a more accurate version with today's driving."

Safety board officials concluded that in each of the eight accidents, the child would have survived with minor or no injuries had the air bag not deployed.

In Jordan's case, Yohe concluded the boy was "out of position" when the accident occurred. He believed the belt over the boy's shoulder may not have been secured.

"His head and neck had to be close to the air bag during the initial phase of deployment," he said. "His injuries were the giveaway.

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