Skip to footer

Counterfeit airbags pose major safety risk. How to protect yourself.

Drivers who have had their airbags replaced in the last three years are at risk of having had counterfeit airbags installed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a list of vehicles that may be affected. 

|
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/FIle
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton, right, accompanied by NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, speak during a news conference at the Transportation Department in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012, to provide consumer safety information regarding counterfeit airbags and what federal officials are doing to address the issue.
  • By Suzanne Kane Guest blogger

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a consumer safety advisory this week, warning of the “extreme safety risk” posed by counterfeit airbags.

These phony airbags look nearly identical to certified, original equipment parts, the agency said. They even have the insignia and branding of major automakers.  But during NHTSA testing, the counterfeit airbags consistently malfunctioned, with results ranging from a failure to deploy to shooting flames and propelling metal shrapnel into the test dummy.

The agency says that 0.1 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads, some 250,000 vehicles, are makes and models for which fake airbags are available. An Associated Press (AP) story reports that NHTSA had been briefed by auto industry officials who said that tens of thousands of car owners may be driving vehicles with counterfeit airbags.

About 1.5 million airbags are deployed each year in police-reported tow-away crashes. While the NHTSA said that it is not aware of any deaths or injuries related to the issue of counterfeit airbags, police accident investigators might not be able to determine if an airbag was fake or genuine.

Based on what is currently known, the NHTSA and its partners have determined that the counterfeit airbags were manufactured in Mainland China.

Who’s most at risk

Most at risk are motorists who have had an airbag replaced following a crash during the past three years and the work was done at a repair shop that was not part of a new car dealership, or they purchased replacement airbags online.

Other at-risk car owners are those who purchased a used car that may have sustained an airbag deployment before the purchase, those who bought a car with a title branded salvage, rebuilt or reconstructed

What at-risk consumers should do

Consumers who fall into the most at-risk category should have their vehicles inspected at their own expense and the airbags replaced, if necessary.

  • Check the list of vehicles for which counterfeit airbags may be available here.
  • Contact the auto manufacturer call center for your vehicle to find out if your vehicle model is among the ones for which counterfeit airbags are known to be available. Click here for the automaker call center contact information.
  • If you do not know the history of your vehicle, you may be able to obtain a vehicle history from Carfax.
  • Regarding the cost of inspection and replacement, if you have concerns about an airbag that was replaced at a repair shop your insurance company recommended, contact your insurance company.
  • If you purchased replacement airbags through eBay, you may be covered for the expense by their “Buyer Protection” policy.  
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Counterfeit airbags pose major safety risk. How to protect yourself.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2012/1013/Counterfeit-airbags-pose-major-safety-risk.-How-to-protect-yourself
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe