
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994                   TAG: 9403020222
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEXT: SIDE-IMPACT AIR BAGS

Daimler-Benz AG and General Motors Corp. both said Monday they have developed air bags that could protect car passengers in side-impact crashes, but they are several years away from selling the devices to the public.

A key problem in developing sidebags is deployment time, both Daimler-Benz and GM officials said. Because side doors have far less crush space than the front of a car, sidebags must be designed to expand more quickly than front bags. The trick is finding a sidebag deployment speed that is fast enough to protect passengers, but slow enough to avoid causing bag-related injuries, representatives of the companies said.

- Washington Post

by CNB