�鶹��ý

A NUMBER of laboratories have shown that in a car crash, air bags can
sometimes permanently damage passengers’ hearing
(�鶹��ý, 4 December 1999, p 7).
Lord Whitty, the roads minister, admits that safety
scientists cannot yet explain why. But an international vehicle standards group
has suggested it would help if you could control the noise of the air bag
inflating. Agreement on a reliable assessment method could lead to air bags, or
vehicles, being tailored to reduce any risk to the occupants’ hearing. The
introduction of “smart” air bags—ones that can control the rate of
inflation and…