The Price of Safety

Twenty doctors wearing sandwich-board signs over their well-dressed frames picketed last week outside Manhattan's Coliseum. The occasion was the Ninth Annual International Auto Show, and the doctors were doing their bit to urge more safety features in autos. The demonstration was just one more in a growing chorus of demands that Detroit do something both to curb the rising highway accident toll and to cut down its annual contribution of 92 million tons of carbon monoxide to air pollution.

Congressional pressure is building for legislation that would compel automakers to equip new cars with a host of safety devices. Connecticut's Senator Abraham Ribicoff recently accused the auto industry of "dragging its feet in the field of safety measures," urged federal action. Congress has already authorized the General Services Administration to require, beginning in September 1967, 17 different safety items--from shock absorbing steering wheels to exhaust controls--on the 60,000 passenger vehicles it buys annually for the Government. Wisconsin's Senator Gaylord Nelson has introduced a bill that would require these same safety items on all new cars by 1968. Last week a Senate subcommittee began hearings on a bill that calls for installation of exhaust-control systems on all new cars sold after Nov. 1, 1966.

Better Brakes. The beleaguered auto industry has certainly not ignored safety. In recent years it has introduced safety door locks, recessed and padded dashboards and seat belts as standard equipment, offered scores of safety items as options. Twin braking systems -- which work even if one set of brakes fails--are standard equipment on Ramblers and Cadillacs, and several higher-priced cars are now equipped with still more efficient disk brakes. Lincoln has a windshield that pops out on impact.

"The industry's approach may appear a bit slow," says Larry Nagler, chief safety engineer for American Motors, ''but we must know where we are going. Just because a 'safety' tag is hung on a specific proposal, there is no reason to assume that it is either effective, worthwhile or economically justified." Nonetheless, Detroit realizes that pressures may eventually force it to adopt many more safety and exhaust-control features (California will require exhaust-control devices on all 1966 cars) --and it is preparing for that day.

Snapping Column. General Motors is experimenting with wired seat belts that must be buckled before the ignition system will work, and with green taillights that turn red when the brakes are applied and thus give a sharper light contrast on braking than at present. The Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, which does work for all of the auto companies, has suggested removing the glove compartment to do away with a potentially dangerous obstacle to the front-seat passenger in case of a crash, and protecting the driver with a steering column that would snap in the middle upon impact. Others have proposed spring-mounted bumpers and thicker doors, sealed side windows to keep arms and legs from flailing out in an accident. Detroit has already built test models with windshields slanted at a greater angle to forestall head damages, and with wrist-twist steering that uses a small, five-inch-diameter disk for each hand.

The industry is also considering such ideas as wiper blades for headlights, autoguide devices on the front bumper that pick up signals from the highway's shoulder and guide the car, and G.M.'s completely automatic highway. But the automakers are in no hurry to rush new safety equipment to the market, and they are unlikely to move any faster on their own. One reason: installation of all the safety options already available would add $1,000 to the cost of the average new car.

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