How The Star researched these stories

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The Star conducted an unscientific spot check of the data against police accident reports and other records that the newspaper could locate. The newspaper did find some errors in the federal data. Some data errors would have removed some fatalities from the total, but others would have added some fatalities.

A former NHTSA administrator described the database as one of the most reliable databases of fatal automotive accidents in the world. NHTSA itself uses the database in preparing reports to Congress on airbag effectiveness and in research for regulatory purposes.

In addition, NHTSA provides the data to state and local governments, research organizations, the automotive industry, Congress and the media.

In all, The Star examined documents for 70 injury and fatal accidents involving nondeployments in frontal crashes.

Besides examining fatality data, the newspaper analyzed consumer complaints about vehicle parts that NHTSA received from 2002 through 2006 concerning injury and fatal accidents.

In September 2006, Consumersaffairs.com also reported anecdotal evidence of more than 160 people who complained their airbags didn’t deploy in serious accidents.

NHTSA maintains a database that provides information about vehicle recalls. The newspaper analyzed recalls since 1990 and found those recalls for nondeployments or ineffective deployments affected at least 3.5 million vehicles.

The Star also reviewed thousands of pages of lawsuits, government reports and other public records. The newspaper conducted dozens of interviews of accident victims, automotive safety experts, government officials and auto company representatives.

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