New autos come equipped with eight to 10 air bags

By David Shepardson,

The Detroit News

Call it the air bag arms race.

Two decades after air bags began widely appearing in vehicles, tucked into steering wheels and dashboards, automakers are racing to add more bags in more places to appeal to safety-conscious consumers.

Today, air bags are moving under the dashboard, into the back seat and under seat cushions. Eventually, they could even end up in seat belts to keep occupants in place during crashes.

Last month, Toyota Motor Corp. said its 2008 Lexus LX 570 SUV will come with 10 air bags as standard equipment - the most available in any vehicle from any automaker. Across the industry, an increasing number of companies are offering eight air bags in many models, including BMW, Hyundai Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit and Volkswagen's Audi.

"There's definitely a war between the different manufacturers to see who can add the most safety advances and air bags," said Hyundai spokesman Miles Johnson, who noted the automaker's new Genesis Sports Sedan would have eight standard air bags.

"Eight, 10 air bags is the wave of the future."

By 2012, the U.S. auto fleet is predicted to top 100 million air bags. One key reason is that automakers agreed in 2003 to equip at least 50 percent of their fleets with side air bags by Sept. 1, 2007, to better protect passengers in crashes involving vehicles that are not of comparable sizes. All vehicles will have side bags by 2009.

"Automakers are coming up with more ways to use air bags," said Doug Campbell, vice president for engineering occupant safety systems at Livonia, Mich.-based TRW, the No. 2 air bag producer.

Campbell has worked on air bag research since 1971, and noted they didn't immediately catch on. "Back then, we all thought the potential was just fabulous, but it really took government regulation to really force the industry and the public to accept them."

Safety belts remain by far the most important safety feature on any automobile, saving more than 13,000 lives in 2001. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says belts have saved more than 135,000 lives in 25 years.

It's been only 10 years since the government required front air bags in all cars and SUVs.

But research by J.D. Power and Associates suggests that consumers are demanding more air bags, especially side air bags. A 2006 survey of 40,000 drivers ranked side-impact air bags as the top emerging technology they want.

Could automakers ever go overboard with air bags? Maybe, said Florian Zettelmeyer, a University of California-Berkeley professor who studies auto marketing. Zettelmeyer said air bags are clearly a sales consideration, but wonders, for instance, whether consumers would even know what knee air bags do.

"I would have my doubts whether consumers can differentiate between 8 or 10 air bags, or even tell where they are," he said. "Sometimes you get innovations that are targeted more to outmaneuver your competition in the game of one-upsmanship."

The NHTSA estimates that more than 22,000 people have been saved by air bags since 1987.

The agency is likely to require side air bags to protect both motorists' heads and torsos by 2010 or later.

In May 2004, NHTSA proposed requiring automakers to provide head protection in side impact crashes for the first time - a move the agency said would save up to 1,000 lives per year. NHTSA said it hoped to make it final as early as 2005 - something the agency didn't do. But NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason said in an interview that the agency is committed to completing the rule by the end of this year.

Air bags are getting safer after regulators required bags to be depowered if smaller passengers are sitting in the front seat or to be deactivated if a child is sitting in the front seat.

Safety vents in air bags are helping to further depower bags if smaller people are sitting too close. There are now two- or three-stage air bags, which determine the severity of crashes and deploy an appropriately sized bag. A few vehicles have air bags in the seat cushion, which help keep a motorist in place during an accident.

Volvo and other automakers emphasize air bags don't work without a seat belt.