Interpretation ID: crull.jeg
1061 Greendale Road
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Dear Ms. Crull:
This responds to your faxed letter of August 29, 1996, requesting special permission to have the passenger air bag of your 1996 Ford Taurus station wagon deactivated or a cutoff switch placed in it. You explained that you have a five-and-a-half-month old daughter who was born three weeks premature. She had an apnea spell in the hospital and went home on an apnea monitor. You stated that you need to be able to reach her within 10 seconds if the monitor should go off. You stated that this would be impossible if she is in the back seat of the car, since it would take far longer than 10 seconds to pull off the road if you were in traffic. You also stated that your dealership is not willing to deactivate the air bag due to a law that forbids the disabling of safety equipment.
As discussed below, we would consider the special needs of your child as sufficient justification for not taking enforcement action against a dealer that either temporarily deactivates the passenger-side air bag to accommodate your child, or places a cutoff switch in the vehicle for the same purpose.
Federal law now requires that new cars be equipped with automatic crash protection at the front outboard seating positions. The air bags in your car were installed as a means of complying with that requirement.
The law also prohibits dealers and repair businesses from knowingly making inoperative devices, such as air bags, installed to comply with a safety standard. However, in very limited situations in which a vehicle must be modified to accommodate a person's special physical needs, NHTSA has in the past stated that we would consider violations of the "make inoperative" provision as technical, justified by public need, and that we would not institute enforcement proceedings.
We would regard a temporary deactivation of the passenger-side air bag in your car, or the addition of a cutoff switch, in the same way. Infants riding in rear-facing child safety seats should never be placed in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger-side air bag. Since you need to place your daughter in the front seat of your vehicle in order to be able to quickly respond to an possible apnea spell, we would consider your situation as sufficient justification for not taking enforcement action against a dealer that temporarily deactivates the passenger-side air bag, or installs a cutoff switch, to accommodate your child.
I want to add a caution. The purpose of the "make inoperative" provision is to ensure, to the degree possible, that current and subsequent owners of a vehicle are not deprived of the maximum protection afforded by the vehicle as newly manufactured. Accordingly, if you have the air bag deactivated, we strongly encourage you to have the air bag reactivated by the dealer when your daughter can ride in the rear seat.
In addition, I strongly encourage you to ensure that passengers in your vehicle use their safety belts.
I hope that this letter resolves your problem. If you have any other questions, please contact Edward Glancy of my staff at this address or by phone at (202) 366-2992.
Sincerely,
John Womack
Acting Chief Counsel
ref:208
d:9/13/96