Does Your New Car Have a Defective Airbag?

With how much the defective airbags from Takata have been in the news, most consumers would expect that automakers wouldn't still be using them. But they would be wrong. Several auto manufacturers are still making new cars containing the dangerous safety devices. Is yours one of them?

Would you buy a new car if you knew something was wrong with it? If your new car isn't coming off the lot, you would at least expect to hear about before you buy it. But right now, there are automakers across the country selling cars they know have defective airbags, without even letting consumers know.

On June 1, 2016, the Senate Commerce Committee released a report called “The Takata Recalls: Consumers Are Still Stuck in Neutral”. The report calls the Takata defective airbags “a crisis that has now grown into the largest series of safety recalls in U.S. history.”

Defects in the Takata airbags have been connected to at least 13 deaths and 100 injuries, many critical. The problem is that the ammonium-nitrate inflators are sensitive to moisture. Over time, they can decay. Then when triggered the inflators rupture, sending shrapnel flying into the passenger compartment, injuring passengers.

As a result, 14 automakers are recalling over 60 million vehicles containing the defective airbags. But the Senate report called the company's recall completion rates “unacceptably low” and noted that many of the replacement airbags are themselves defective and will have to be replaced again.

Perhaps most alarming part of the report is that automakers are still selling new vehicles containing the non-desiccated ammonium-nitrate inflators. Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, told The New York Times:

“I find it bizarre on multiple levels. . . . Multiple mainstream automakers essentially know that they are selling cars that already have a defective part in them. And it’s not a defective windshield wiper or sun visor hinge. It’s an airbag, a primary safety device.”

The automakers are not required to tell new car buyers about the defect, so many are refusing to even announce which models are affected. Brauer continued:

“If a company is unwilling to disclose which models, I as a consumer would hesitate buying any of their cars until I know which ones are affected. . . . What if they required every car with these airbags to have an additional sticker put on them?”

All of these vehicles will need to be recalled by the end of 2018. Regulators emphasize that the new airbags are safe, for now, because the problem requires time to develop. Even so, new cars eventually become old, and the drivers of these cars may not even realize that their vehicle is subject to the recall.

Dani K. Liblang is a lemon law lawyer at The Liblang Law Firm, P.C., in Birmingham, Michigan. She helps consumers who are sold defective vehicles. If you bought a lemon, contact The Liblang Law Firm, P.C., today for a free consultation.