The air bag myth and the GM recall

GM may find itself in a quandary over its use of air bags as a sales tool

2014 October

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a severely underfunded agency. The public assumption is that NHTSA is the cutting edge when it comes to auto safety. Unfortunately, it is not. Automobile manufacturers constantly beat their chests over safety ratings from NHTSA because they have learned that safety sells cars. This is particularly true when it comes to air bags.

Two years ago, I wrote an article for Plaintiff Magazine, (March 2012) citing a comprehensive study by the University of Georgia which shows the glaring flaws in NHTSA reasoning and concludes that air bags do more harm than good. NHTSA concedes that air bags have killed hundreds of people. Air bags kill in low speed accidents, probably do nothing in high speed accidents and greatly increase risks for unbelted passengers because they deploy at 200 mph.

The GM recall

GM apparently failed to notify customers that an ignition switch design (in which the key simply falls out of the ignition switch and which could have been remedied for 90 cents) caused a loss of power, leading to lack of steering power, power brakes and the failure of air bags to deploy. Politicians and the news media have concentrated on the air bag failures. Despite the fact that many of these accidents were horrific, there is no evidence that air bags would have done anything to save passengers in these small compact cars, beyond the primary protection of seatbelts.

Air bags have been around for more than 20 years. They have been mandatory in the United States on all cars since the 1998 model year. Car manufacturers, which fought air bags initially as they always fought every safety innovation including seatbelts, determined eventually that bags sell cars. So we now see advertising for bags and more bags. They install bags not just in the dashboard, but on the sides and even the roof. You can see ads proclaiming that a certain car has eight or 10 air bags to protect you and your kids. In discovery you get in-house memos to dealers that blatantly talk about the strategy of selling cars by emphasizing air bags.

So GM is on the horns of a dilemma. If they argue that air bags would not protect anyone in a compact car in a big accident, they undermine sales based on air bag protection. If they insist air bags would provide protection, a defect such as the ignition switch that prevents the air bag from deploying makes their irresponsibility seem even worse.