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Fat chance

By Kurt Kleiner

30 March 2002

HERE’S yet another reason to lose weight. Heavier people are more likely to be killed or seriously injured in car accidents than lighter people.

That could mean car designers will have to build in new safety features to compensate for the extra hazards facing overweight passengers. In the US, car manufacturers have already had to redesign air bags so they inflate to lower pressures, making them less of a danger to smaller women and children. But no one yet knows what it is that puts overweight passengers at extra risk.

A study carried out in Seattle, Washington, looked at more…

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