Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection

As one method of reducing the adverse effects of air bags, especially for children, NHTSA is requiring new, attention getting labels. This rule requires vehicles with air bags to bear three new warning labels. Two of the labels replace existing labels on the sun visor. The third is a temporary label on the dash. These new labels would not be required on vehicles having a ``smart'' passenger-side air bag, i.e., an air bag that would automatically shut off or adjust its deployment so as not to adversely affect children. This rule also requires rear-facing child seats to bear a new, enhanced warning label to replace the existing label. The labels will help reduce the adverse effects by increasing the number of people who read and understand the message of the warning labels.