Health Alert

New seat belt, air bag rules

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will require all manual safety belts to have a lockable feature enabling them to be locked securely around child safety seats, effective Sept. 1, 1995, according to the NHTSA. The rule will not apply to automatic belt-equipped vehicles, which are in the process of being phased out.

Automatic safety belts will be phased out of all cars, vans and light trucks, effective September 1998, the NHTSA reported, and dual air bags will be required for vans and light trucks that same year. Dual air bags will be required for all cars effective September 1997.