The Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA)has a policy of allowing second-hand vehicles to be imported into New Zealand. Current policy in this country requires airbags to be reinstalled when they have been deployed, following a crash or for some other reason if the vehicle was originally certified to comply with a frontal impact standard. Given the governments policy of "Safety at Reasonable Cost", it is important to demonstrate the likely benefits and costs associated with this policy. The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) undertook an economic analysis of re-fitting airbags in vehicles where they had been fitted as original equipment but since were not operative or replaced following a crash. A Harm analysis was undertaken to estimate the likely benefits for New Zealand. Findings showed that the break-even figure for mandating airbag replacement varied from between 5 and 16 years, depending on the cost of replacement and the discount rate for future earnings. The total system-wide benefits of airbags in both new and used vehicles in New Zealand was shown to vary from a Benefit-Cost-Ratio (BCR) of 2.4 to 3.4 for the same figures. (Author/publisher)
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