NHTSA conducted a survey to investigate how pickup truck drivers are using the passenger air bag on-off switches. The main two questions were how often the switches were turned off for child passengers and how often they were turned on for adult passengers. The survey was conducted from July to November 2000 in four States – California, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas. On the whole, the switches have been a necessary and a fairly successful interim measure that made it possible to offer life-saving air bags to adult passengers in pickup trucks without back seats, while allowing the opportunity to protect infants and children from the hazards of air bags when they must ride in the front seats of those vehicles. Nevertheless, the survey shows many of the air bags are being left on for children and turned off for adults. Forty-eight percent of the air bags were left on when only child passengers 1-12 years old were in the front seat and 62 percent when a child and an adult passenger were in the front seat, potentially exposing these children to a deployment. There is also a problem when drivers ride with only adult passengers (age 13 and older). While 83 percent of the switches were on, as they should be, 17 percent were switched off. (Author/publisher)
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