Opinion ID: 541080
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: any other occupant restraint system specified in such standard.

Text: 37 15 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1410b(b) (in relevant part). 8 38 Section 1410b shows, inter alia, that Congress intended manual seat belts to remain one of the options for complying with federal restraint system requirements, see Taylor, 875 F.2d at 826-27, at least insofar as the procedures in subsection (c) were not used to circumvent subsections (b)(2) and (b)(3)(A). The options presented by the Department of Transportation in Standard 208 reflect congressional intent, since they allow automobile manufacturers to comply with federal safety requirements by providing either a passive safety system, such as air bags or automatic seat belts, or manual safety belts. 39 That such flexibility and choice is an essential element of the regulatory framework established in Standard 208 has repeatedly been made clear in the regulatory history of this particular safety standard. 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); 46 Fed.Reg. 53419 (1981) (Secretary Lewis determined that air bags and automatic seat belts should not be required, but each should remain only one alternative among several options in satisfying occupant restraint requirements); 42 Fed.Reg. 5071 (1977) (Secretary Coleman relied on a 1976 document entitled The Secretary's Decision Concerning Motor Vehicle Occupant Crash Protection to conclude that passive restraint systems should not be mandated at the time due to public uncertainty). The regulatory history shows that the Department of Transportation, consistent with Congress's intent in Sec. 1410b, rejected the idea that air bags or automatic seat belts should become a mandatory requirement for occupant safety at the time this Ford van was manufactured. See, e.g., 49 Fed.Reg. 29000 (1984) (Department of Transportation determined that airbags should not be required in all cars); 42 Fed.Reg. 5071 (1977) (after considering several alternate approaches to occupant safety under Standard 208, Secretary of Transportation rejected alternatives mandat[ing] passive restraints on some or all passenger cars and continued with approach allowing use of manual seat belts). 9 40 Allowing Pokorny, and others in similar situations, to allege common law liability for the failure to install air bags or automatic safety belts would directly undermine the regulatory framework suggested by Congress in Sec. 1410b and implemented by the Department of Transportation in Standard 208. These aspects of Pokorny's common law action are pre-empted. See Taylor, 875 F.2d at 827 (Eleventh Circuit applied holding of Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. de la Cuesta, 458 U.S. 141, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982), that a state common law rule cannot take away the flexibility provided by a federal regulation, and cannot prohibit the exercise of a federally granted option; since plaintiffs' theory of recovery, based on manufacturers' failure to equip certain motor vehicles with air bags, effectively would remove the element of choice provided in Standard 208, plaintiffs' actions were impliedly pre-empted); Kitts v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 787 (10th Cir.1989) (plaintiffs' air bag claims impliedly pre-empted by Safety Act), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1781, 108 L.Ed.2d 783 (1990); Wood, 865 F.2d at 402, 408-14 (defective design action based on lack of air bags in motor vehicle impliedly pre-empted); Kolbeck, 702 F.Supp. at 541-42 (although an extremely close issue, court held that Safety Act and Standard 208 pre-empted common law damage claim for failure to provide a passive occupant restraint system); Nissan Motor Corp. v. Superior Court (Meier), 212 Cal.App.3d 980, 261 Cal.Rptr. 80 (Ct.App.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1782, 108 L.Ed.2d 784 (1990). 41 The Safety Act's savings clause does not change our resolution of the pre-emption issue, since it is well-established that a savings clause like Sec. 1397(k) does not save common law actions that would subvert a federal statutory or regulatory scheme. See Ouellette, 479 U.S. at 492-94, 107 S.Ct. at 817-18; Chicago & N.W. Transp. Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co., 450 U.S. 311, 328-31, 101 S.Ct. 1124, 1135-37, 67 L.Ed.2d 258 (1981); Pennsylvania R.R. v. Puritan Coal Mining Co., 237 U.S. 121, 129, 35 S.Ct. 484, 496, 59 L.Ed. 867 (1915); Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U.S. 426, 446, 27 S.Ct. 350, 357, 51 L.Ed. 553 (1907). 10 42 Pokorny's assertion that there is no actual conflict between federal law and the imposition of common law liability for failing to provide air bags or automatic safety belts is unconvincing. A few courts have held that there is no conflict between Standard 208 and common law liability in this type of situation since common law liability would not compel automobile manufacturers to install certain types of passive restraints and, in any event, it is possible for them to meet both federal and state requirements; for example, a manufacturer could install air bags or automatic seat belts. See, e.g., Gingold, 389 Pa.Super. at ----, 567 A.2d at 325-27. However, we think that Kolbeck is more attuned to the realities of such a situation:  'An automobile manufacturer faced with the prospect of choosing the [passive restraint options], or facing potential exposure to compensatory and punitive damages for failing to do so, has but one realistic choice.'  702 F.Supp. at 541 (quoting Baird v. General Motors Corp., 654 F.Supp. 28, 32 (N.D. Ohio 1986)). Because common law liability for failing to provide passenger-side air bags or automatic seat belts would undermine the option of meeting federal safety standards by providing a manual seat belt system like that in the Ford van in which Duffy was killed, an option that Congress and the Department of Transportation clearly intended to preserve, Pokorny's action is pre-empted to the extent that it is based on this theory of recovery.