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from the corporate-airbags-making-defective-air-bags dept.
Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata has doubled estimates of the number of vehicles affected by an airbag defect to 34 million. Moisture can infiltrate the defective airbags, which causes the chemical propellant inside to ignite too quickly, breaking the inflator and sending "metal shards into the passenger cabin that can lead to serious injury or death." The airbags have been linked to six deaths and over 100 injuries.
The NHTSA's Recalls Spotlight site asks owners to use a VIN search tool for up to several weeks after the announcement of the recall. Models affected include cars from Acura/Honda (5.5 million), BMW (765,000), Chrysler/Dodge/Ram (2.88 million), Ford (538,977), Infiniti/Nissan (1,091,000), Toyota/Lexus/Pontiac (1,514,000), Mazda (330,000), Mitsubishi (11,985), Saab, and Subaru (17,516).
(Numbers are subject to change.)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Thursday May 21 2015, @10:13AM
I am in the UK. When seatbelts were made compulsory wearing in the UK the vast majority of people did wear them. I might be wrong, and it might be an urban myth, but my understanding of the origin of airbags is that they were introduced into the USA because a much greater proportion of people there would not wear seatbelts, whatever the legislation - it being the Land of the Free and all that. So airbags were introduced to cover these people.
They were then introduced to the UK partly because car manufacture had become internationalised and partly because safety officials and legislators say "Yes" to anything with the word "Safety" attached to it. Whether there is any significant point to an airbag if you are already wearing a seatbelt, I do not know.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 21 2015, @04:13PM
I was on scene a minute after an accident, a few months back. The side of a sedan had been shredded by a pickup (fast moving sedan vs carelessly maneuvering truck). I'm pretty sure that the people inside were glad to have airbag fabric between the pieces of the shattered windows and their skin. As long as you're not holding a hard object in front of your face (or sit too close), more cushioning is a good thing when playing with lots of g and flying objects. The motorcyclist would have probably appreciated air bags too, but we can't ask him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 22 2015, @12:41AM
Yea, and when I hit a Cadillac, who ran a stop sign about a decade ago, the airbags sprained both my wrists/hands to the point where I could neither unbuckle my seat belt, nor open the door to climb out. The seatbelt did all the work, the airbags caused more injury and damage to the car than the crash did. What if I had needed to get out of the car quickly, like if there was a fire? I would have been dead.
On top of that, airbags are expensive. The limited studies I have seen show passenger airbags being not cost effective under any circumstances, while driver airbags are at best break even, but probably not cost effective either.
What safety technology do we NOT have because airbags are mandated? Think about that.
One possible technology are foam-metal crumple zones, which increase structural integrity and shock absorption without increasing weight. They use an aluminum foam inside the structural members to prevent large buckling of structural members in a crash. An interesting technology that we will never see because the money that might be spent on that is being diverted thanks to the government.
If someone wants to drive something with the crashworthyness of a 1978 Beetle I say let them and let the insurance companies assess risk and charge appropriate premiums.