Actually, airbags were pushed by Elizabeth Dole and the DoT more than the insurance companies. See http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=5192 Mandatory seatbelt laws came as a result of Dole's blackmail against the automakers, threatening them with an airbag mandate unless seatbelt laws were enacted.
Poor suckers, they thought they could trust a government bureaucrat, but wound up screwed with the airbag mandate anyway.
Insurance companies' costs are massively increased by airbags - they are required by law to be original equipment, and a single fender bender with no injuries can rack up thousands of dollars in airbag repair costs alone. See http://www.lemurzone.com/airbag/cost.htm for an example scenario calculating nearly $4,000 to repair the airbag system on a 1994 Taurus.
What's the result? Poor people can no longer afford cars.
"What's the result? Poor people can no longer afford cars."
Yep. Plus the migration of manufacturing to low cost countries.