To the rescue came the U.S. Dept. of Transportation in the persona of Elizabeth Dole. It was a lobbyist-safety organization feeding frenzy. Secondary enforcement would not meet the D.O.T. requirement for the air bag trade-off but it would still start the process of putting seat belt mandates on the law books. Besides, the fines will be low and there will be no points nor insurance surcharges for non-compliance. But, by then, most states had some sort of seat belt law.
Air bags are the norm and multiplying like rabbits.
Setting this contradiction aside, a nagging public relations problem is evolving toward becoming a liability problem, as well as a general embarrassment for the safety establishment. Children are being injured and killed by air bags. No one seriously denies, that on occasion, devices like seat belts and air bags cause injuries and deaths. It's more the exception than the rule, and in balance, it's argued that these devices do far more good than harm. An occasional garroting by a seat belt or the loss of an eye by an air bag going off is balanced against thousands of injuries prevented and deaths avoided.