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Laws on Air Bags. On April 1, 1989 the U.S. government required all cars produced as of that date the have air bags installed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 1960 and 2002 front air bags saved over 12,000 lives. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (Act) directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue motor vehicle safety standards that "shall be practicable, shall meet the need for motor vehicle safety, and shall be stated in objective terms." In issuing these standards, the Secretary is directed to consider "relevant available motor vehicle safety data," whether the proposed standard is "reasonable, practicable and appropriate" for the particular type of motor vehicle for which it is prescribed, and "the extent to which such standards will contribute to carrying out the purposes" of the Act. The Act authorizes judicial review, under the Administrative Procedure Act, of "all orders establishing, amending, or revoking" a motor vehicle safety standard. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), to which the Secretary has delegated his authority to promulgate safety standards, rescinded the requirement of Modified Standard 208 that new motor vehicles produced after September 1982 be equipped with passive restraints (automatic seatbelts or airbags) to protect the safety of the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision. In explaining the rescission, NHTSA maintained that it was no longer able to find, as it had in 1977 when Modified Standard 208 was issued, that the automatic restraint requirement would produce significant safety benefits.
In 1977, NHTSA had assumed that airbags would be installed in 60% of all
new cars and automatic seatbelts in 40%. But by 1981 it became apparent
that automobile manufacturers planned to install automatic seatbelts in
approximately 99% of the new cars and that the overwhelming majority of
such seatbelts could be easily detached and left that way permanently,
thus precluding the realization of the lifesaving potential of airbags
and requiring the same type of affirmative action that was the stumbling
block [463 U.S. 29, 30] to achieving high usage of manual belts.
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