77-20-B3

- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977

<< Previous Broadcast

Next Broadcast >>

Air Bags

Transcript Now and then we read something about air-bags in automobiles to, quote “protect our lives”—unquote, but do we know we’re about to be stuck with them? I’ll be right back. About 95% of our automobiles are equipped with seatbelts and we’d all be better off if we used them. Their ability to protect us and even to spare us painful bruises in minor, bumper denting accidents is a proven fact. It could be we’re going to wish we had used them even if we never have an accident. The Department of Transportation in Washington which succeeded in having them installed in cars in the first place is pretty upset with us because we don't automatically hook them up every time we step on the starter. They did a lot of fussing about making it compulsory for us to wear them but couldn’t figure a way to put an inspector in every car to make sure we did. You’ll remember one of their efforts was that inter-lock seatbelt device that rang buzzers and wouldn’t let you start the car until the belt was hooked up. It only took Congress about two weekends back in the home district finding out how mad we all were to get that changed. But now the Department of Transportation has figured a way to save us in spite of ourselves. It is the air bag. And they’ve passed a regulation that we have to have them one whether we want them it or not. At first glance it looks like a pretty good way to save lives in head on collisions and incidentally that’s the only time they work. If you are traveling 22 miles an hour or faster and you plough into something head on or nearly so the bag located beneath the dash instantly inflates and you find yourself plunging into a soft balloon instead of a hard windshield so far so good. and maybe even worth the $2,000 or so it will cost you over the life of your car. They add about 200 to $300 to the price of the car when you buy it and another 3 to $600 every time it inflates and has to be refilled. Now that’s still a fair price if it saved your life. But it’s pretty expensive if it just happened to pop open by mistake and about 7½ out of 100 do that. Then of course there might be additional costs if it did that accidental popping while you were navigating a curve at about 55 miles an hour. I understand they are experimenting to see if they can make them so they don't extend above eye level. That of course would be a simpler problem if we were all the same height. Of course you wouldn’t have to bother with the seatbelt. Which is too bad, because the seatbelt protects you f in a side collision or a roll over, even a rear ender and the air bag doesn’t. Incidentally almost half of all accidents are that kind. Very simply the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has found seatbelts are 5½ times better than air bags at saving lives and 2½ times better at preventing injuries. One thing I haven’t checked out is information I’ve received that the air in the air bag isn’t air. It’s a highly toxic gas.1 If true it’s something else to be considered. Isn’t this whole idea another thing that should be left to us and the free market. If any of us would like to install such a devise in the family car shouldn’t that be our decision to make? By what right does a government agency force us to buy something for our own protection at considerable cost? It really is none of their darn business. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 77-20-B3 Production Date 09/27/1977 Book/Page RPtV-204 Audio Youtube? No
		Added Notes from the book: Air bags’ contents consist of two chemicals, which react at impact, creating nitrogen gas that then inflates the bag. One of these chemicals, sodium azide, is a highly toxic gas and is potentially fatal. See the Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov and “A New Safety Look in Chemicals,” BusinessWeek, June 5, 1978.