Frontal crashes are defined as impact force from 10-2 o'clock direction. The agency has estimated that air bags have saved about 3,000 lives cumulatively from 1987 through April 1, 1998. Occupants are considered to be in frontal crashes if their vehicles had the impact force from 10-2 o'clock direction. In the calendar year 1996, when about 26 percent of the on-road vehicle fleet was equipped with driver side air bags and 11 percent with passenger side air bags, air bags saved 687 lives.
Air bags are thus an important source of occupant protection in current passenger vehicles.
However, air bags may have adverse effects on occupants who are too close to the air bags when they deploy. Of particular concern are children. From year 1990 to 1997, the estimated number of cumulative vehicle years is 201.2 million for driver side air bags and 74.5 million for passenger side air bags. The projected numbers appear to be reasonable estimates for the later years. The parenthetical values for 1996-1998 are the total of confirmed and nonconfirmed SCI cases.