It sounds so sensible. It can't be coming from the government. But the National Transportation Safety Board, with support from the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, is recommending that states should more aggressively enforce mandatory seat belt laws as a way to reduce the risk of injuries from the deployment of air bags in traffic accidents. Because of the force at which an air bag deploys, unbelted passengers can be injured, sometimes, seriously, if they are out of position. Several children and hundreds of adults have been killed by the force of air bags. Meanwhile, AirBelt Systems has developed something it calls the IntelliFlow Car Bag, which deploys more slowly in the initial milliseconds when the bag bursts through the steering wheel or instrument panel. It then inflates faster, depending on the passenger's size and weight and the force of the crash.
