"Introduction In my career@ I have spent many years closely associated with the automotive industry and managed engineering programs during the early days when airbags were first used. The idea for this book was conceived during the writing of my PhD dissertation entitled@ ""A Historical Study of the Evolution and Effects of Federal Automotive Safety Legislation in the United States from 1900 to 2005."" It was a study that examined to what extent@ if any@ federally mandated safety rules and design-mandates reduced the annual numbers of passenger deaths on the U.S. highways@ and it covered the period from the time that the first automobiles were regularly used on U.S. roads and highways to 2005. The study was inspired by the apparent lack of concern exhibited by automotive manufacturers@ politicians@ and the general motoring population with regard to the actual numbers of car drivers and passengers who were killed in the United States on a daily basis. Reported statistics invariably concentrated on ratiometric numbers such as deaths-per-drivenmile- per-year or deaths-per-registered-motor-vehicle-per-year@ and published charts and graphs using these data showed very impressive annual improvements. Figure I.1 is a graph showing the trend line of annual passenger car deaths in the United States per million driven miles per year. As can be clearly seen@ the trend between the years 1920 and 2005 very closely approximates an exponentially declining curve line. This declining curve is a remarkably impressive achievement that has been accomplished and aided by continuous improvements to vehicle design@ implementation of new advanced technologies@ driver and passenger acceptance@ and use of safety restraint systems plus great improvements in highway designs@ construction techniques@ and maintenance. In contrast@ however@ Fig. I.2 illustrates the dramatically increasing numbers of U.S. passenger-car drivers and occupants who died over the same time period@ while Fig. I.3 clearly shows that the very rapid rise in annual deaths was in strong contrast to the much slower increase in total miles driven each year. Consider actual numbers: for the United States in 1910 there were 1599 automobile related deaths; 12@155 in 1920; and more than 31@000 in 1930@ with the rates continuing to rise each year. While the statistic@ deaths-per-mile-driven@ shows great success in reducing the likelihood of people dying in motor vehicle accidents@ it completely masks the number of individual personal tragedies that have devastated American families on a daily basis since the beginning of the 20th Century. Not until 1924 was this terrible and continuing accidental loss of life taken seriously by the Federal Government. It was President Coolidge@ in the 1920s@ who first took action to promote the understanding of safety and causes of automotive-related deaths."
SAE R-404-2012 history
2012SAE R-404-2012 Occupant Protection and Automobile Safety in the U.S. since 1900