Ford automotive operations president Jacques Nasser said the side-impact air bags, also to be offered on the Windstar mini-vans, will be included as the company rolls out new models as optional and standard equipment to provide more head and chest protection. "Ford Motor Co will offer side impact air bags in every one of our north American cars and Windstar mini-vans as they are revised, updated and newly introduced," Nasser said at the New York International Auto Show.

The first products to feature Ford's "combination" side airbags will be the 1999 Mercury Cougar, which recently went into production, and model year 2000 Lincoln LS sedans. They will be an as-yet-unpriced option on the Cougar and standard on the LS cars.

Unlike front passenger anddriver air bags, there are no federal requirements for side air bags. Instead, automakers must meet side-impact requirements through padding and impact-absorbing structures.

Ricardo Martinez, director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said it is not likely that the agency will require side air bags because it wants the industry to experiment with improved designs."I don't see us doing that," he told reporters at the auto show. "We'd more likely look more to upgrade the overall standard for side impacts. We want to encourage the innovation and creativity."

Automakers are introducing many different types of side airbags, including those that inflate outward from the door panel, forward from the side of the seat back and downward from the edge of the headliner to keep an occupant's head from hitting the window.

Up to now, Ford has not sold any vehicles in the United States with the devices, although other automakers, including European brands such as BMW AG and Daimler-Benz AG'sMercedes-Benz do provide them, with BMW also offering rear seat side bag options. The remaining members of Detroit's Big Three are split on the issue. General Motors Corp. first started offering side air bags on its 1997 Cadillac DeVille.

GM now includes side air bags as standard equipment on the 1998 Deville and Seville cars, its three front-wheel drive mini-vans, the Chevrolet Venture, Oldsmobile Silhouette and Pontiac Trans Sport; and as a $295 option on the Chevrolet Prizm small car.

By the end of the 1998 model year, GM said it will have about 500,000 vehicles with side air bags on the road worldwide. Within two years, there will be 21 models offering the safety devices.

But GM executives said they will not likely pursue Ford's across-the-board approach to side air bags and can provide adequate protection in some vehicles with structural engineering.

"Clearly, side-bags are important," said GM small car Chief Mark Hogan. "It's a delicate balance in the entry part of the market. You try to havethe best price value relationship and you try to have the best fuel economy and safety and there's trade-offs everywhere."

Chrysler Corp does not sell any cars or trucks with side air bags, but has left room in its vehicles to add them later. Chrysler safety certification director Susan Cischke said the automaker would probably choose different technology today than it would have two years ago.

She acknowledged that the lack of side air bags in Chrysler vehicles could become a "marketing issue," but emphasized the need to get the technology right in order to eliminate the risk of unwanted injuries. She noted that there have been at least three fatalities of children associated with side air bags.

"We had to have 8 million air bags on the road to have a the first fatality of a child, so we have to make sure we look at all the alternatives," she said.

"We are reviewing their effectiveness at this time," she said. "We feel more data needs to be gathered."