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Inside Edition | Video Transcript
DEBORAH NORVILLE: An Inside Edition investigation is next.
MALE VOICE: We know that there's a real serious problem out there.
MALE VOICE: Are your car seats safe? The government and auto makers have known for years that most seat backs can collapse in a rear-end collision.
JANICE STUMP: I'm living proof that it can happen to anybody. The way cars are made today, the seat backs that they have, they're not safe.
MALE VOICE: But auto makers say there is no problem. And the government agrees.
KEN SACZALSKI: We're basically perpetrating a lie upon the public by saying that we're doing a good job.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Hello and welcome to Inside Edition. I'm Deborah Norville. How safe are you when you get in your car? If you've got airbags and anti-lock brakes and use your seatbelt, you probably feel pretty secure. Well, you may not after watching our report today. Our investigation looks at one vehicle flaw found in virtually every car on the road that can have tragic consequences.
JANICE STUMP: As I tried to get up, I couldn't feel my legs. I laid there. And I can remember saying, "Please don't let me be paralysed."
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Janice Stump was 15 when her world changed forever. She was in the front seat of a GM Cutlass when it ran off this country road in Kansas spinning into the embankment.
JANICE STUMP: Our rear end hit. And at that time, we were approximately going 20 miles per hour. And that's what broke my seat.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Here's the problem. When you're thrown forward in a front end crash, you have your seatbelt to protect you. But what if you're hit from behind? Then you're thrown back against your seat. And if it breaks, you can be sent flying.
JIM STROPE: I thought that we had a safe car. It had seatbelts. I felt safe in that car. But that was a false sense of safety.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Jim Strope's wife Judy was hit from behind while driving their '87 Honda to work in Wheeling, West Virginia. Her seat collapsed. She lost control careening into oncoming traffic and was killed. Jim sued Honda and was awarded $3.6 million.
JIM STROPE: This accident could've been prevented. I think Honda was aware of the seats and how the collapse.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: They sure were. Look at this government tests. This is the same make and model Honda that killed Judy Strope. Watch the test dummies in this 35-mile-an-hour crash. They go flying backward as their seats collapse.
KEN SACZALSKI: Most seats by most manufacturers will collapse and allow you to then catapult or end up in the rear seat area, either on the lap of the individual behind you or into maybe a hard surface area that may cause injury. If the seat gave way, you could perhaps strike a child who is sitting in a child seat back there. All of us get into our cars. And they all feel substantial. And they look substantial. But underneath, those of us that have done the testing, we know that there's a real serious problem out there.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: And the government knows it, too. This is your basic folding lawnchair. It cost us 20 bucks. We decided to put it through the same test your car's seat had to pass. Guess what?
LARRY THOMPSON: It took the load and with the load applied and passed.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: So as far as the federal government standard is concerned, that lawn chair qualifies.
LARRY THOMPSON: Passed the test.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: So what good is the federal standard?
KEN SACZALSKI: In my opinion, it's totally worthless. It gives a false sense of security to the general public. They think that they're getting something that's safe because it met a federal regulation. That's totally untrue.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: The regulation called Standard 207 requires that a seat back with standalone load of about 200 pounds. But even a low-speed crash can generate ten times that force.
JOAN CLAYBROOK: It's not really worth the paper that it's written on.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Joan Claybrook was head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during the '70s. She says, "Even then, the government and the industry knew the seat standard wasn't adequate. But nothing's been done."
JOAN CLAYBROOK: I'm really shocked. You know, this is over 20 years since we've known that this is a problem. Even in automotive industry terms, 20 years is a long time.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: Current highway safety officials refuse to be interviewed. The major auto makers declined to be interviewed. But in letters opposing stronger seat standards, the big three, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, all said their seats performed satisfactorily in collisions, that rear impacts result in very few fatalities and stronger seats might introduce more concerns than would be alleviated, like increased whiplash.
DEBORAH NORVILLE: The industry view is seat backs should absorb crash energy and collapse in a controlled manner. There are a few cars which do have strengthened seats, which the experts do consider safe. But they're expensive. They're Mercedes, Volvo, and some models of BMW and Ferrari. The $7 seatbelt that we showed you is only available in Starcraft vans.
