Agency to propose side protections

The requirement would cost automakers millions of dollars.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When the sport utility vehicle she was riding in was broadsided by a Jeep Cherokee, Abigail Baglione's head was hit so hard she was in a coma for seven weeks.
Baglione, 25, suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent more than two years in rehabilitation after the 2000 crash. What angers her most is that her injuries could have been prevented if the SUV had side air bags.
"The public needs to know that head protection in their car or truck is not a luxury. It's essential," Baglione said at an appearance in Washington this spring.
This week, federal regulators plan to take a major step toward protecting passengers in side-impact crashes, which are responsible for 10,000 deaths each year on the nation's highways.
For the first time since 1990, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose a new set of safety standards that vehicles will have to meet in side-impact crashes. The rules are expected to result in the installation of side air bags in all vehicles, since vehicles won't be able to meet the standards without them.
Saving lives
NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge says updating the standards could save up to 1,000 lives each year.
"This will be the most lifesaving rule we will participate in my tenure," said Runge, who is a trauma surgeon. "There is absolutely nothing higher on my rule-making agenda."
For the first time, the rule will require vehicles to protect occupants' heads as well as their torsos. The change is important, since car occupants are at significant risk of head injury when they are struck by sport utility vehicles and other trucks with higher bumpers. In side-impact crashes between cars and light trucks, the occupants of the car are 20 times more likely to be killed, NHTSA says.
NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said improved crash test dummies make it possible for NHTSA to estimate the amount of head trauma. The rules also will require automakers to protect different sizes of dummies.
Procedure
Once the rules are proposed, automakers, safety groups and others will be allowed to comment before NHTSA issues a final rule. It could take four years before the rule results in concrete design changes, which will cost manufacturers millions of dollars.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington trade group that represents 10 automakers, hopes NHTSA takes into account an agreement manufacturers made last December to improve side-impact safety.
Under the voluntary agreement, automakers pledged to add side air bags and improve door beams and side bumpers by 2009. They also will consider ways to redesign trucks so that their bumpers are better aligned with cars.
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