Buckling Up Technologies to Increase Seat Belt Use -- Special Report 278 (2004) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 17-28
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In legislation passed in December 2001, Congress requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) contract with the Transportation Re search Board to undertake a study to consider whether newly developed vehicle technologies may present opportunities for increasing seat belt use without being overly intrusive.1 The study charge comprises three tasks: Examine the potential benefits of technologies designed to increase belt use, Determine how drivers view the acceptability of the technologies, and Consider whether legislative or regulatory actions are necessary to enable their installation on passenger vehicles.
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Congressional interest in this study is focused on an assessment of the potential for technology to increase seat belt use and the extent to which federal laws and regulations pertaining to these technologies may inhibit their introduction. SEAT BELT EFFECTIVENESS Use of seat belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor vehicle crashes (Dinh-Zarr et al.
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. 2Three-point seat belts, which integrate lap and shoulder belts in a single nondetachable unit, provide good protection in frontal crashes (50 and 53 percent fatality reduction in cars and light-duty trucks, respectively)
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Seat Belt Ignition Interlock The primary focus of the newly created National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was on passive restraint systems -- primarily air bags, but also automatic seat belts (Kratzke 1995, 2)
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. Soon thereafter, NHTSA required that, effective August 15, 1973, all new cars not providing automatic protec tion be equipped with an ignition interlock that prevented the vehicle from starting if the driver or front-seat passengers were not buckled up (Federal Register 1973)
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TECHNOLOGY REVISITED Since the interlock requirement interdiction nearly 30 years ago, the protection afforded by seat belts in crashes has become widely recog nized, seat belt use laws are nearly universal, belt use rates have increased 8The 1984 amendment to FMVSS 208 required automobile manufacturers to install automatic restraint sys tems (air bags or automatic seat belts) unless two-thirds of the nation's population was covered by seat belt use laws (49 FR 28962)
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Motorists are becoming accustomed to such technologies, and the cost of their installation is declining as sensors and other facilitating technologies are manufactured in volume. In 1998, NHTSA was petitioned to mandate effective belt use tech nologies, such as belt reminder systems that go beyond the existing 8-second reminder.11 However, NHTSA denied the petition, stating that 11 Letter and Petition from Carl E
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consumer safety rating program,13 offers bonus points for vehicles equipped with belt reminder systems that meet certain performance criteria, thus providing a strong incentive for manufacturers to introduce effective technologies. KEY STUDY ISSUES, DEFINITION OF TERMS, AND APPROACH In light of the history of the 1970s interlock experience, a major goal of manufacturers is to introduce technologies that encourage seat belt use but that are acceptable to customers and will not be overly intrusive.
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with belt reminder and interlock systems. It then examined more recent but limited field data on the effectiveness of current enhanced belt reminder systems.
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Finally, the committee requested market research data directly from the automo bile manufacturers with regard to consumer acceptance of new seat belt use technologies. To address the third task -- to determine whether changes in regu lation or legislation are necessary to facilitate introduction of effec tive technologies -- the committee requested that NHTSA's Chief Legal Counsel provide the agency's current interpretation of the statutory and regulatory restrictions affecting both belt reminder and interlock systems.
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The committee then provides its findings and recommendations concerning the role of technology in increasing belt use. REFERENCES Abbreviations NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TRB Transportation Research Board Blincoe, L., A
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2002. Effectiveness of Ford's Belt Reminder System in Increasing Seat Belt Use.
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