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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 Procedures

    WHAT:  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