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There is little or no doubt that air bags save lives in accidents. Passenger side air bags are generally effective safety devices; however, in special cases there are damaging side effects. Damaging and unintended by-products of [passenger side] air bags include, but are not limited to, injuries such as abrasions, broken bones, and damaged knees. Passenger air bags are especially threatening to short people (generally under 4' 10”), to those who allow the passenger seat to be placed too close to an air bag, to various size children, and especially to rear-facing infants. Placing the passenger seat too close to an air bag can be classified as “misuse.” Misuse also include those who may place their feet on the dash, and then either lose, or have legs severely damaged when the air bag deploys. Even though air bags were designed to take into account as much of the population as possible, anomalies do exist.

Calspan Corporation, under contract with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, developed improvements to the belt systems and compartment of a 1979 Plymouth Horizon and 1981 Plymouth Reliant. In addition, in subsequent model years, Chrysler incorporated structural modifications into the Reliant to improve the crash performance. An unmodified Horizon had previously been subjected to car-to-car crash tests into a Ford Mustang and a Chevrolet Citation at 70 mph closing velocity and both the Horizon and Reliant had undergone barrier crash tests at 35 mph. Certain parts of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 injury criteria, measured on Part 572 dummies in driver and front seat passenger positions, were exceeded on at least one of the dummies in both Horizon car to car tests and the Reliant to barrier test.