Editorial: ‘Smart’ technology may have dumb side

Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 | 9:06 a.m.

Automakers are under a federal mandate to begin installing "smart" air bags by next year. Under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requirement, 35 percent of all 2004 models should be equipped with the latest technology, which is supposed to gauge how big the passenger is and then adjust the inflation force of the air bag appropriately when there is a crash. There's just one problem, though, and it's not a trifling matter. Automakers say that tests of the new airbags, which are supposed to better protect children and smaller-sized adults in a crash, actually could end up costing lives because of technology flaws.

As USA Today reported Monday, three suppliers of the smart bags have pulled their products off the market due to safety concerns. One air-bag maker, Siemens, says a foolproof system can't be devised because passengers shift around in their seats -- making an adult appear to be a child -- and children placed in heavy child seats can appear to be adults to the "smart" air bags. So you could have either not enough force or too much force -- both potentially deadly -- if the "smart" air bags don't comprehend what the actual size of the passenger is.

The NHTSA says it's willing to consider phasing in the mandate so that 20 percent of the 2004 models will have to carry the "smart" air bags instead of 35 percent as is currently required. But phasing in a potentially flawed safety device makes no sense. The NHTSA should investigate immediately and halt the "smart" air bags' rollout if its own probe finds the safety device isn't working right. Cars are much safer than they've ever been. In our rush to make them even safer, let's not rashly adopt "improvements" that can end up doing more harm than good.