European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Ford motor co. Demonstrates front passenger air bag thai is Standard equipment on 69 Lincoln Continental. Air bag debate is All but Over by Don Oldenburg Washington Post Lawana Hansen always thought Tho red Light marked air cushions on the control panel Olathe used 75 Olds Tornado her husband bought had something to do with its Cushiony seals she did t know about air bags until Tho Accident. On an april morning in 1981, Hansen was driving her 81 year old Mother along 1-15 near her Home in Sandy Ulah another car sideswiped hers. She lost control and swerved across Tho freeway median and head on into a loaded diesel Tanker truck. The Impact hammered the front dual wheels out irom under the truck the Olds was crunched Metal the first patrolman to approach the wreck radioed in two but when the officer looked into the front seat rubble he saw Hanson s Mother searching for a tissue to wipe blood irom her daughter s forehead. Hansen suffered a ruptured spleen a damaged Aorta and a broken leg her Mother fractured one ankle and the other leg. It was phenomenal that we weren t both says Hansen since then Tho Nylon balloon like safety device that Mullales in a fraction of a second in a collision has been on Hansen s mind. She s not really sure what the Luss Over air bags has been about. For her there is no debate. All she knows is if that car had t had bags she and her Mother would not be alive today yet when she looked for a new car after the Accident Only luxury models that she could t afford offered Ihorn the salesmen just laughed. They said air bags weren t any mention to Hansen that duo to Federal Law some automobile manufacturers will install Driver Side air bags As Standard equipment in about 3.3 million of the 15 million or so 1990 models and she says simply i think we should have them in All the cars. We would be had them years ago if the Public had been More Many Auto safety and consumer advocates in the United Stales have been arguing for that for almost Throe decades now the air bag debate appears All taut Over. Wilh Aulo makers required by september to install passive restraint safety devices air bags or an automatic Lap and shoulder harnesses in All new cars some safely exports say it is Only a matter of time before air bags Are Standard Rosemary Dunlap has positioned herself in the Middle of the fight for air bags for More than a decade we re Over lha admits the president of motor voters a Mclean consumer advocacy group. Now it s ust a question How Long is it going to Lake them to filter Down to All the cars on the Road ten years until air bags Are installed in All new automobiles that s her Best guess then add another 10. 20, even 30 years Bolo re the older models that never had air bags Are Olf the streets we re trying to accelerate the process and put pressure on the Aulo makers to Speed it up says Dunlap. Whom car manufacturers generally regard As a informed pest on the subject. Time is the one Ihms we never had. Every time this is delayed it Means with a partial Victory under their Bells Dunlap and other air bag advocates Are More optimistic now about what the next decade May bring to Auto safety. One reason is that the Public is gradually catching on even if manufacturers tend to resist newly proposed safety features usually on the basis of Cost. Tho message is getting across to people that you re really at risk when you Are Riding in your car and you Nood says Dunlap. That s something the automakers had tried to downplay or deny Over the As evidence that perception of Auto risks is closing in on reality she Points to a Usa today Survey last year in which parents indicated their greatest fear for their children second to abduction was that they d be killed or injured in a car crash. A National Survey on air bags conducted in March for the american coalition for traffic safety disclosed that 95 percent of american Drivers polled had heard of air bags and that Only 11 percent disapproved of them. Then there s the soon to be released congressionally funded report that Marks injuries As the costliest . Health care problem with the automobile component by far he largest. Some consumer advocates worry however that the Public will mistake air bag Progress As the end of the Auto safely tight. Joan Claybrook says it s not. Air bags were our first target says the president of Public citizen a Washington based consumer group. Logically we fought for the thing that saves the most lives in fact a Holly Agenda of Post air bag safety requirements is contained in a Bill that has passed the us. Senate but is stalled in the House of representatives. Among the Bill s proposals Side Impact standards to reduce what now accounts for almost a third of car crash fatalities standards for Light trucks and vans that escaped passive restraint Laws rear seat shoulder harnesses new child Booster seat standards a study of the dangers of darkened windshields revised standards on pedestrian safety that could alter front end design on automobiles. Air bags were like the Maginot line for the Auto Industry says Claybrook. Auto makers were afraid that As soon As they said. Of we do air bags they d have to do Side Impact too. And then they d have to do vans and Light trucks. They kind of treated air bags As a Way to slave off the Auto safety advocates. But now the dam has been broken at first i was t sure. Now i am. My husband is in Tho advanced stages of to news anxiety a disease that is led by Loo much news and too Little Lime quite simply he is a Man who knows Loo much the symptoms Are All there. He sits in front of the to set with a tuner and twirls from newscast to newscast until his eyes Glaze Over. He sends $2 to Macneil Lehrer for a transcript of every program. The other night he awoke irom a restless sleep and shouted of. Buchanan on a scale of one to 10. Quayle. I hold the opinion that Loo much news can make you sick physically and mentally. The human body and mind can take just so Many air plane crashes Oil spills serial killers Washington scams defense controversies terrorism drug seizures and Bank closings before you Start braiding your hair. I keep Page 16 the stars and stripes telling him if he does t balance this with a daily of of Willard Scott blowing kisses to centenarians and an occasional wet sir rerun he could overload and sink into information failure every week the television schedule has Little circles drawn around hcs must sees " these include firing line. Mclaughlin group. Washington week 20/20,48 hours 60 minutes. West571h, yesterday today and tomorrow local news network news prime time meet the press. Night me David Brukley face the nation Macneil Lehr or and sunday morning to name a lev there Are Only a handful of people in this world who know when Bob Simon lbs in Beirut gets a haircut or who sends a card to Ted Koppel when he is sick i am continually amazed that a Man who will not eat leftover Chili can watch the same Story of the Valdez Oil spill replay for three solid Days and not complain. I worry about the Day when All these news shows will wednesday August 30,1989 not be Able to have enough news to sustain them. They will become like the talk shows that finally ended up dealing with such topics As research rats speak out and when should your dog sleep alone there were not enough controversies to go around. I told my husband the other Day that if he did t Start to watch other kinds of television he would Sutler painful withdrawal. To reverse his condition i eased him into watching Linda Ellerbee do a Coffee commercial. Then i had him watch win lose or draw followed by a Silver spoons repeat. I honestly Don t know if he s going to make it Back or not. When his children talk of their lather and someday they will i Hope they Are kind. I Hope they remember his As a quiet intelligent Man who just wanted to know All he could about the world and what was happening in it and was willing to abandon his wife. Lor George will. C 1989 Erni Bomick
