You probably have a frontal airbag in your car. The Federal government mandates it. You can’t turn it off without permission from the government and that permission will be granted only after a lengthy process under difficult to prove circumstances. You don’t know how to turn it off yourself and attempting to might make your car inoperable. Only certain mechanics can do it. Only if you have a permission slip.
There’s a little problem with this that the National Motorists Association has recently written about:
…the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to recall upwards of possibly 65 million airbags that were built by the Japanese company Takata. Apparently, the device that inflates the Takata airbag might explode under certain conditions. The explosion will cause flying shrapnel to fly out and hurt you even worse than the car crash you were involved with when the airbag inflated. Over 7.5 million airbags so far have been repaired but that is only a small fraction of airbags that need to be replaced immediately.
At least 10 people now have been killed and hundreds have been injured from the flying shrapnel. In April 2016, the latest victim was a 17 year old Texas teen who crashed a 2002 Honda Civic, one of the oldest of the cars in the recall. She was killed by exploding shrapnel that hit her neck.
If not your car, you probably know someone who has a car that will be affected by this massive recall. The Department of Transportation website Safercar.gov has the most up-to-date list of cars affected by the recall.
According to Consumer Reports, over 14 different automakers with cars built between 2002 and 2015 are affected by the recall. NHTSA calls the Takata airbag recall “the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history.” Not only is this a massive recall it is also a quick one with five phases to be scheduled starting this month (May 2016) through the end of 2019. Cars will be ranked based on 3 main risk factors:
- Age of the car and airbag
- Exposure to humidity
- Fluctuating high temperatures that can accelerate the degradation of the airbag
The Takata airbag problem apparently stems from the use of ammonium nitrate-based propellant wafers. If the inflator housing ruptures in a crash, metal shards from the airbag can spray throughout the passenger cabin hurting anyone in their way.
Used properly and when they are properly functioning, frontal airbags can save lives especially if you are involved in a head on collision. But if you sit too close to the airbag or sit at a wrong angle because you are too short, pregnant or a child under 12, you might have cause for concern with airbags in general.
Bu…bu…bu…but our government is in the best of hands. What could possibly go wrong?
Read the entire report at the NMA Newsletter #363
Please consider joining the National Motorists Association. It’s the only National group defending the rights of motorists across America. Other associations sell insurance and that changes everything, making their dissemination of information slanted and untrustworthy.
Here is where you can go to sign up!
I have nothing to do with NMA other than being a member. I don’t get any benefit from you joining other than knowing that the one place where my rights as a motorist are being advocated and protected just got a little bit stronger. And so did yours!
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