Re: Automatic fire sprinklers

[Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@xxxxxxxxx>]

In article
<prestwhich-D7520D.08543415012011@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
 Smitty Two <prestwhich@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> Airbags are known by the acronym SRS for a reason. They were *never*
> intended to replace seatbelts. The issue of people not wearing seatbelts
> was addressed with seatbelt laws, not airbags.

 If you look at the legislative history of the airbag you will see that
you are wrong. In 1977, when President Carter
appointed former Ralph Nader lobbyist Joan Claybrook to head the NHTSA.
Claybrook actively sought to establish an effective safety restraint law
and her efforts partially paid off when Transportation Secretary Brock
Adams ordered all new cars to have automatic safety belts **OR**air bags
by 1984.(This was also called the passive restraint law because of the
either mandate where the driver/occupants did not have to do too much
more than just sit in the seat.  (emphasis mine). After a little hooha
under Reagan, (State Farm vs Auto Mfrs Assoc) the Department
of Transportation issued new regulations ordering Auto producers to
install air bags between 1986 and 1989. But it left one loophole: If, by
1989, states comprising two thirds of the US population implemented
mandatory seat-belt use, the federal regulation would not apply. (In
other words if there were mandatory seat belt laws, then there was no
need for airbags). IN '91 Bush the Senior signed a law saying airbags
would be mandatory in a couple of years, of course by then, most
automakers were offering them as standard for marketing reasons.
    It was known, FYI,

--
"Even I realized that money was to politicians what the ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
 ---PJ O'Rourke