Opinion ID: 1101070
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: History of the Safety Act

Text: ¶ 10. The purpose of the Safety Act is: to reduce traffic accidents and deaths and injuries to persons resulting from traffic accidents. 15 U.S.C. § 1381. The Act requires the Secretary of Transportation to establish appropriate Federal motor vehicle safety standards. § 1392(a). The Act defines a safety standard as a minimum standard for motor vehicle performance, or motor vehicle equipment performance, which is practicable, which meets the need for motor vehicle safety and which provides objective criteria. § 1391(2). Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U.S. 280, 283-84, 115 S.Ct. 1483, 1485-86, 131 L.Ed.2d 385 (1995). Other courts agree. See Pokorny v. Ford Motor Co., 902 F.2d 1116, 1122 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 853, 111 S.Ct. 147, 112 L.Ed.2d 113 (1990). Through the Safety Act, Congress sought to increase automotive safety by authorizing the promulgation of safety standards... . The responsibility for promulgating these standards was given first to the Department of Transportation and later to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). Taylor v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 816, 822 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1065, 110 S.Ct. 1781, 108 L.Ed.2d 783 (1990). Standard 208, was first adopted in 1967, [and] initially required the installation of manual lap belts in all new automobiles... . In 1972, NHTSA amended Standard 208 to require a gradual phase-in of passive restraints (i.e., airbags, padded interiors, or automatic seat belts) in all cars. For models made before August 1975, manufacturers were permitted to use manual belts with an ignition interlock system, which prevented a car from starting until the seat belts were fastened... . Public outcry against this ignition interlock system prompted Congress in 1974 to amend the Safety Act. The amendment required NHTSA to rescind the ignition interlock standard. It also authorized NHTSA to adopt a standard that permitted manufacturers to install either passive restraint systems or manual belt systems; the amendment, [further], prohibited NHTSA from issuing any standard that required manufacturers to install passive restraints... . As amended, Standard 208 granted manufacturers the option to install one of three restraint systems: passive restraints for front and lateral crashes; passive restraints for front crashes plus lap belts for side crashes and rollovers; or manual seat belts alone. Taylor, 875 F.2d at 823. Apparently there was significant concern among motorists that certain types of passive safety systems, most particularly airbags and automatic seat belts, could become mandatory in motor vehicles and that motor vehicles' ignitions soon would be designed not to start unless the occupants' seat belts were connected. Pokorny v. Ford Motor Co., 902 F.2d 1116, 1123 (3rd Cir.1990) ( citing Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 34-37, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 2862-64, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983)). The options presented by the Department of Transportation in Standard 208 reflect congressional intent [of] flexibility and choice [as] an essential element of the regulatory framework... . See, e.g., 49 Fed. Reg. 28962, 28997 (1984) (Secretary Dole explained that the flexibility and variety built into Standard 208 was needed to `provide sufficient latitude for industry to develop the most effective [occupant restraint] systems' and to help `overcome any concerns about public acceptability by permitting some public choice')... . Pokorny, 902 F.2d at 1124. ¶ 11. Past Department of Transportation Secretaries have rejected mandatory air bags for very sound reasons, such as public acceptance, development of technology, and the need for additional data. 15 U.S.C. § 1381 (1988) (Congress determines that it is necessary ... to undertake and support necessary safety research and development). The two principal systems that would satisfy the Standard were air bags and passive belts; the choice of which system to install was left to the manufacturers. Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n, 463 U.S. at 37, 103 S.Ct. at 2863. Thus, any air bag requirements were to be gradually phased in. 46 Fed.Reg. 12034, 21174-75 (1981); 49 Fed.Reg. 28989, 28987, 28997, 29000 (1984). Federal law under the Safety Act, the regulations promulgated thereunder, and the revised provisions permit but do not require the installation of air bags in passenger cars until 1996 at the earliest. Drattel v. Toyota Motor Corporation , No. 7897/93, slip op. at 3 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Jan. 4, 1996). ¶ 12. From the legislative history, we conclude that the purpose of the Safety Act is to reduce traffic injuries and save lives. However, it is also crystal clear that Congress sought to further this goal by providing automobile manufacturers the discretion to choose whether to install air bags, manual seat belts, or both. This latitude was given because of public outcry against mandatory restraint systems, as well as the need for additional scientific data in the development of air bag restraint systems. Congress wisely saw that mandating air bags would be a rush to (scientific) judgment. Therefore, as the scientific data on automobile restraint systems trickled in over the years, the Department of Transportation accordingly and gradually phased in or increased the percentage requirement of air bags.