Bags or Belts

Automakers get the word

Deregulation of the much suffering U.S. auto industry has all along been a cherished goal of the Reagan Administration, which has vigorously attacked governmental bureaucrats and their safety standards as being major contributors to Detroit's maladies. But the Administration's ongoing effort to end what automen as well regard as officious federal meddling received a serious setback last week. That occurred when a federal appeals court in Washington ordered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reinstate a regulation requiring automakers to install air bags or automatic, self-buckling seat belts in their 1984-model cars.

The judicial ruling reversed a 1981...