Air bags – National (continued)

"Auto Activist Steers Fight for Air Bags"

"FALLS CHURCH, Va.–It's a wonder that a gang of angry auto dealers and lobbyists didn't roar into suburban Washington screaming bloody murder when Rosemary Shahan moved to town nearly two years ago.

Since she came to town, she's been organizing a national consumer boycott in support of air bags….Shahan is no flash-in-the-pan or kook-turned activist. Ever since a Lemon Grove, Calif. Repair shop kept her car for five months without making necessary repairs, the 37-year-old homemaker has been fighting car companies. Her persistence has paid off…

Her reputation as a credible activist is growing. She has testified several times before Congress on lemon laws and air bags and in 1983 chaired a congressional advisory committee in California on consumer protection. Last fall, a Federal Trade Commission task force invited her to help draft a federal rule to regulate car company customer-arbitration programs, due in May. She has sought advice from Ralph Nader and his followers but operates independently…

Auto company lobbyists here not only know who Shahan is, they acknowledge that she does her homework. Automakers are reluctant to discuss Shahan, but during the past year, they have begun to gripe informally that she knows all too well how to draw national attention to air bags….In sum, says a Toyota Motor Corp. lobbyist: 'She has everything it takes to cause this industry many headaches for many years.'

– Detroit Free Press, January 11, 1987