airbags, shrapnel,takata and 14 manufacturers

[Chas4545]

So there are huge fines for vehicle makers who did not report takata airbags randomly firing shrapnel into people, and loads about this online, but it all talks about the US of A.

2002 to 2008 cars from 14 makers are affected, with dealers disabling airbags and fitting "do not sit here" signs in cars while they wait for stock.   USA owners can find out if their car is affected at the NHTSA website, but doesa it affect uk cars? Are we  the poor relations and being ignored?

 

[Vince70]

I don't know if it effects us but it sounds a good idea come mot time when your airbag light it stuck on if you could just slap a sticker on the dash saying do not sit here.

 

That sounds like a good bodge to me, I now wish I bought that car with the blown airbags

[steve_earwig]

Eh? Wot? Why? Where? When? Who? Grenade??

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I got a letter from BMW in December saying my car was being recalled for air bag replacement and I'd be contacted in January by my local dealer to arrange.

Interesting - we haven't heard anything from BMW.

 

What is the year and model of yours, Tayne?

[barefoot]

I don't want to be a pendant, but I think you mean toccata & fugue.

[mercrocker]

Aaaah the old bellows has burst has it?

[cort1977]

This is just typical posturing by US congressmen, as long as they don't have an auto plant in their district then there is no political downside for them to be 'tough on automakers' and try to make a name for themselves 'standing up for the average American'.   There is a long history of these scares in the US, Audi were subject to a campaign in the 80s that destroyed their sales for years and Toyota recently settled a massive class action suit for 'unintended acceleration' which was completely unfounded.   They settled rather than fight on which solved their issue but just encourages more of this bollocks.   GM had one with ignition keys recently.

 

European regulators have generally taken a more intelligent view on these things hence a recall for some airbags and no hysteria.   In summary, compared to all the other risks on the road, this one is pretty small. 

 

These politicians making hay out of this should get more Americans to wear their bloody seatbelts, Texas (population 20 million) has more deaths on the road each year than the UK (population 60 million).

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

330ci, Dec 2002 build.

Ah, right. The one we have here is a 2007, so slightly newer.

[carlo]

I don't think I'd trust any airbag that's older than ten years anyway.

[steve_earwig]

Hopefully they fail in a "never, ever go off, even if you drive over a cliff" manner, rather than an "I'm going to randomly detonate now and break your nose, grind your specs into your eyes and cause you to loose control and run over two nuns and a kitten" type stylee.

[brickwall]

My face is my airbag

[xtriple]

My old V70 had stickers inside the doors that said something along the lines of ' airbag service required at ten years' and a note to the same effect in the handbook.

[AnthonyG]

My old V70 had stickers inside the doors that said something along the lines of ' airbag service required at ten years' and a note to the same effect in the handbook.

There was a craptical crassics article about this, one of the writers had a circa 1997 Jaguar which had this message on it and they wanted to know if it was valid or some legal bollocks.

Jaguar said airbags should last the life of the car, which didn't strike me as that helpful really, what do they estimate the service life of their products to be? I assume more than a decade but 15 years or what?

[New POD]

Let me think about the technical likely hood of a fabric bag and small explosive system ageing. Well, the temperature cycling day to night, summer to winter, along with humidity cycling, is likely to be the cause of ageing. Now Lets say the sewing on the seams weakens, well okay, it's not going to be as effective. I don't know enough about how the explosive system might age, but assuming that it fails to go off, you are all sitting in a metro when it comes to crash protection.

[cort1977]

That reminds me, the new Merc has a sticker stating that all airbags (there's about 12 of them) are due to be replaced in September 2015 which is 15 years old presumably.  

 

I'll take my chances.

[lisbon_road]

I had to get rid of some once.  Apparently you're supposed to let them off when you dump then, so I rigged up a battery and put 12 volts on them.  The kids and I were behind the patio doors a long way off watching.  One went off with a real bang and a strong smell of explosive.  I could get the other one to go off at all.  These were about eight years old. 

[the judge]

Seen loads go off in 20 year old motors. Makes me smile that its been sat there waiting to make an entrance after all these years like a silent ninja.

 

Not worth worrying about peeps,think they would more likely not work than random fire. Unless the motor had been in a flood or something

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

So, in summary, unpredictable face level explosive charges. 

[vulgalour]

Explosions under the bonnet propel you towards the crash, explosions in the trim keep you from harm.

[inconsistant]

Explosive cuddles are the best cuddles.