Buckling Up Technologies to Increase Seat Belt Use -- Special Report 278 (2004) / Chapter Skim
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5 A Strategy for Increasing Seat Belt Use Through Technology
5 A Strategy for Increasing Seat Belt Use Through Technology
Pages 79-93
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From page 79... ...
208 so that the agency could require effective seat belt inducements in new vehicles other than the ignition interlock or a continuous buzzer of the type NHTSA is pro hibited from requiring (Nash and Friedman 1998)
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From page 80... ...
. Since this response and NHTSA Administrator Runge's appeal to the automobile industry encouraging installment of systems such as the Ford BeltMinder that go beyond the minimum federal requirements, NHTSA's Chief Counsel has issued several clarifications concerning the legality of voluntarily provided belt reminder and interlock systems.2 In response to questions about the legality of the Ford BeltMinder and an enhanced seat belt reminder system recently developed by General Motors Corporation, the Chief Counsel noted that the federal require ment for a 4- to 8-second system is a minimum standard.
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From page 81... ...
As advanced air bag requirements are phased into the new vehicle fleet starting on September 1, 2003, all man ufacturers will have some type of front-seat occupant-sensing devices. The marginal cost of the additional hardware to detect that drivers and front-seat occupants are buckled up to support driver and front-seat pas senger belt reminder systems is relatively modest and thus, in the opin ion of the Chief Counsel, should not serve as a deterrent to seat belt use technology introduction.4 The clarifications just discussed pertain to enhanced belt reminder systems on vehicles for sale in the U.S.
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From page 82... ...
In sum, from NHTSA's perspective, enhanced belt reminder systems and certain interlock devices voluntarily provided by the automobile manufacturers should not be in violation of FMVSS 208 as long as they clearly distinguish between the NHTSA-required 4- to 8-second system and the enhanced system. Moreover, it should be possible to design sys tems that are in compliance with both FMVSS 208 requirements and EuroNCAP performance criteria.
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From page 83... ...
Those companies opposed to regulation noted that the automobile manufacturers are already voluntarily introducing belt reminder sys tems; hence there is no need for regulation. Others thought that regu lation was premature and could stifle innovation.
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From page 84... ...
FINDINGS On the basis of its review of the literature, the interviews and focus groups conducted by NHTSA for the study, and the briefings provided by the automobile manufacturers and NHTSA's Chief Counsel, the com mittee offers its key findings in response to its charge in this section. The committee believes that new seat belt use technologies, in particular en hanced belt reminder systems, could increase belt use and be favorably received by consumers, particularly by part-time users, who apparently would welcome a reminder according to the results of the NHTSA inter views.
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From page 85... ...
. Enhanced belt reminder systems can be provided at minimal cost for front-seat occupants because of the availability of sensors that can de tect the presence of front-seat occupants for advanced air bag systems.10 The absence of rear-seat sensors on many vehicles, installation com plexities (e.g., removable seats, child seats)
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From page 86... ...
The current legislation prohibiting NHTSA from requiring new seat belt use technologies other than the ineffective 4- to 8-second belt reminder is outdated and unnecessarily prevents the agency from re quiring effective technologies to increase belt use. Seat belt use has grown fivefold since 1974.
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From page 87... ...
.11 2. Every new light-duty vehicle should have as standard equipment an enhanced belt reminder system for front-seat occupants with an au dible warning and visual indicator that are not easily disconnected.
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From page 88... ...
, Consumers Union -- should be urged to note those vehicles that have enhanced belt reminder systems in their consumer vehicle safety rating publications. For example, NHTSA could indicate those vehicles in its consumer publication Buying a Safer Car.
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From page 89... ...
The research would involve conducting more comprehensive studies of the effects of reminder systems on belt use; undertaking controlled fleet studies of more aggressive re minder systems; gathering more survey data on the effectiveness and acceptability of belt reminder systems from existing NHTSA and public health sources; and examining design issues, such as loudness of the chime, desirability of muting the radio when the chime is sounding, duration and cycling of the systems, and pres ence and design of any cutoff capability. (See the following section- Proposed Research Program -- for more details.)
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From page 90... ...
Approximately 4 million new Ford vehicles are sold each year in North America. General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Mazda, and others are planning to introduce enhanced belt reminder systems on MY 2004 and MY 2005 vehicles, in many cases concurrent with the introduction of advanced air bags.
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From page 91... ...
Controlled fleet studies to be conducted in conjunction with field evaluations of currently available enhanced belt reminder systems. Using rental car fleets, as in earlier NHTSA seat belt use technology studies, researchers would examine whether it is possible to gener ate belt use increases significantly larger than those produced by the first generation of belt reminder systems.
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From page 92... ...
On the basis of informal dis cussions with NHTSA staff and agency consultants, the committee be lieves that a targeted increase in the agency's research budget on the order of $5 million per year should be sufficient to support the proposed research program. The committee believes that NHTSA should begin the field evalua tions quickly in view of the large numbers of belt reminderequipped vehicles coming onto the U.S.
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From page 93... ...
, once all passenger vehicles have been equipped with enhanced belt reminder systems. These figures do not include the potential lives saved from the installation of rear-seat belt reminder systems or the hundreds of thou sands of injuries that could also be prevented each year.
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