Ford To Put Air Bags Into Back Seat Belts Of SUV

"With any new safety technology, you have to do a lot to educate the consumer," she said. "We're not sure what people will value with this."

Cischke said the Explorer was chosen for the new seat belts because it's popular with families and has also been a platform for other safety introductions, such as side-curtain air bags and stability control. Cischke said the price could come down substantially if Ford decides to put the seat belts on other vehicles.

Edward DeSmet, a technical seat belt specialist at Ford, said test subjects found the padded belts even more comfortable than regular ones. He hopes that leads more people to use them. U.S. seat belt usage in back seats is still at a dismal 60 percent, compared with 83 percent in the vehicle as a whole, DeSmet said.

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AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf contributed to this report from New York.

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