The politics of air bag safety: A competition among problem definitions

In light of 121 deaths attributed to air bag deployments, mainly to childre n and adults of small stature, recent policy debate has focused on modifyin g current Federal automotive air bag regulations. A problem definition pers pective is employed to understand the nature of this debate. Utilizing a co ntent analysis of the official record of one U.S. House and two U.S. Senate hearings, it is argued that four problem definitions characterize the deba te over air bag safety: behavioral, regulatory technological, and corporate greed. Furthermore, it is argued that a problem definition perspective off ers a better explanation of recent changes to Federal air bag regulations t han do pluralist, elitist, and principal-agent models.