other manufacturers, General Electric and Lighting Science Group, announced last year that they were developing entrants to the competition. But before they could submit, the prize was awarded and the competition closed. The contest also required that at least some of the manufacturing be done in the United States, where costs can be higher. The Philips bulb will be assembled in Wisconsin, and the chips will be made at a Philips plant in San Jose, the company said.

In many ways, however, the

L Prize may have been irrelevant. According to retailers, consumers are embracing LEDs, which were the focus of the prize, and CFLs, or compact fluorescent lights, faster than many in the industry expected. The new bulbs can cut energy costs by more than 75 percent.

CFLs already outsell1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle air bag apparatus including a plurality of air bags.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known motor-vehicle air bag system includes air bags and squibs for activating the air bags respectively. The squibs are connected to an electric power supply via resistors respectively. An energy storage backup capacitor is connected in parallel to the electric power supply. The squibs are arranged in parallel to each other. When one of the squibs falls into a short-circuited state, the arrangement of the resistors connected to the squibs enable the other squib to receive a necessary drive current from the electric power supply and the backup capacitor. However, the resistors consume certain amounts of electric power, requiring a greater power supply ability