Buckling Up Technologies to Increase Seat Belt Use -- Special Report 278 (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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. NHTSA is urging industry to deploy vehicle-based technologies, such as seat belt reminder sys tems, to encourage further gains in belt use, but the agency is prohib ited from requiring such technologies by federal legislation dating back to 1974.
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. Moreover, seat belts reduce the risk of moderate to-critical injury in crashes by 50 percent for passenger vehicle occupants and by 65 percent for light truck occupants (NHTSA 2002b)
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If, in fact, the ma jority of belt nonusers are aware of the benefits of seat belts but have not 4As discussed in more detail in Chapter 2, these categorizations are approximate. For example, 83 percent of drivers reported wearing their seat belts "all the time." However, 8 percent of these full-time users reported in a follow-up question that they had not worn their seat belts while driving at some time during the past week (Block 2001, 24)
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, no laws requiring belt use, lap and shoulder belt systems that many mo 5The standard has been upgraded to require that all new passenger vehicles be equipped with three-point belt systems that integrate lap and shoulder belts in a single detachable unit. 6The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 intended that safety standards not depend on cur rent technology and could be "technology forcing" in the sense of inducing the development of superior safety design (Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association v.
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. One year after the interlock requirement took effect, Congress enacted legislation pro hibiting NHTSA from requiring either ignition interlocks or continuous buzzer warnings of more than 8 seconds.7 The agency revised FMVSS 208 accordingly, retaining a requirement for only a 4- to 8-second warn ing light and buzzer8 of similar duration that is activated when front seat belts are not fastened at the time of ignition.
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While current federal law prohibits NHTSA from mandating in-vehicle seat belt use technologies other than 10 The majority of states still have "secondary" seat belt use laws, which allow a police officer to issue a cita tion for belt nonuse only after the motorist has been stopped for another reason (Glassbrenner 2002, 5)
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In Sweden, Australia, and Japan, where belt use rates are substantially higher than in the United States, enhanced belt reminder systems are being tested and put in vehicles to help persuade the small remaining group of belt nonusers, who are overrepresented in severe crashes, to buckle up. Technological solutions were thought to hold more promise than additional public information campaigns and enfocement efforts (Larsson 2000, 12)
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They range from belt reminder systems that pro vide a minimal visual and auditory prompt to buckle up, to demanding ones that are more insistent and persistent, to interlock systems that simply prohibit the unwanted behavior (e.g., the unbelted driver is un able to shift the car into gear)
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It re viewed the available literature, held closed-session briefings with key automobile manufacturers and suppliers, and reviewed the results of in depth interviews and focus groups conducted by NHTSA for this study.13 Interviews were thought to be more useful than a large population sur vey because demonstration of the technologies with follow-up questions would provide more valid data than asking hypothetical questions to respondents unfamiliar with the devices. The objective of the in-depth interviews and focus groups was to obtain a greater understanding of the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of four technologies that were judged to span a wide range of intrusiveness -- from the Ford BeltMinder, to a more aggressive Saab prototype belt reminder system (where the chime increases in intensity with vehicle speed)
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. According to the automobile manufacturers and suppliers, enhanced belt reminder systems can be provided at minimal cost for front-seat oc cupants because of the availability of sensors that can detect the pres ence of front-seat occupants for advanced air bag systems.15 Rear-seat systems appear costly compared with front-seat systems because of the absence of rear-seat sensors on many vehicles, installation complexities (e.g., removable seats, child seats)
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. Furthermore, recent efforts by NHTSA and industry to encourage parents to place their chil dren in rear seats away from front-seat air bags has increased parental interest in systems that monitor belt use in rear seats.
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Congress should amend the statute regarding belt reminder systems by lifting the restrictions on systems with lights and chimes longer than 8 seconds, which would provide NHTSA more flexibility and the authority to require effective belt reminder technologies. At this time, the committee does not see any compelling need to delete the prohibition on requiring interlock systems.
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7. Congress should provide NHTSA with funding of about $5 million annually16 to support a multiyear program of research on the effec tiveness of different enhanced seat belt reminder systems.
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found in the initial evaluation of the Ford BeltMinder could be achieved nationally, a minimum of 1,250 additional lives could be saved annually, according to NHTSA estimates (Glassbrenner 2002, 1) , once all passenger vehicles have been equipped with enhanced belt reminder systems.
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2002. Effectiveness of Ford's Belt Reminder System in Increasing Seat Belt Use.
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1890-01_ExecSum.qxd 2/10/04 2:56 PM Page 16
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