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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: 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.