NHTSA issues airbag warning on 4.7 million vehicle
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Thanks for the link. There may be some confusion out there somewhere...either in the media or with manufacturers. This article says that our 2005 Acura MDX would be included in the recall, but we have not received a recall notice, and a call just now to my local Acura dealer with its VIN confirms that it's not included...at least at this point in time.
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Thanks for the link. There may be some confusion out there somewhere...either in the media or with manufacturers. This article says that our 2005 Acura MDX would be included in the recall, but we have not received a recall notice, and a call just now to my local Acura dealer with its VIN confirms that it's not included...at least at this point in time.
This article mentions MDX's as well : http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/07/08/honda-recall-expanded/12388069/
I believe it it limited to specific states, which may be why your MDX isn't covered under the recall.
Thanks for the link. There may be some confusion out there somewhere...either in the media or with manufacturers. This article says that our 2005 Acura MDX would be included in the recall, but we have not received a recall notice, and a call just now to my local Acura dealer with its VIN confirms that it's not included...at least at this point in time.
This article mentions MDX's as well : http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/07/08/honda-recall-expanded/12388069/
I believe it it limited to specific states, which may be why your MDX isn't covered under the recall.
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I never realized how violent these exploding air bags are until I stopped at the scene of an accident and saw what one did to the driver. I'm wondering if a safety harness like those used in race cars that cover both shoulders with a wider lap belt would be a better way to go. I see why they don't use them now because they would be inconvenient and no one really plans on having an accident. The easier path was taken, a single shoulder belt and air bags because no one wants to waste their time hooking up or wrinkling their clothes for that accident that will never happen to then.
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I never realized how violent these exploding air bags are until I stopped at the scene of an accident and saw what one did to the driver. I'm wondering if a safety harness like those used in race cars that cover both shoulders with a wider lap belt would be a better way to go. I see why they don't use them now because they would be inconvenient and no one really plans on having an accident. The easier path was taken, a single shoulder belt and air bags because no one wants to waste their time hooking up or wrinkling their clothes for that accident that will never happen to then.
I would love to have 5/6 point harnesses for the street. Unfortunately very few are DOT legal, Schroth makes ones that have DOT approval.
I never realized how violent these exploding air bags are until I stopped at the scene of an accident and saw what one did to the driver. I'm wondering if a safety harness like those used in race cars that cover both shoulders with a wider lap belt would be a better way to go. I see why they don't use them now because they would be inconvenient and no one really plans on having an accident. The easier path was taken, a single shoulder belt and air bags because no one wants to waste their time hooking up or wrinkling their clothes for that accident that will never happen to then.
I would love to have 5/6 point harnesses for the street. Unfortunately very few are DOT legal, Schroth makes ones that have DOT approval.
The other issue with a harness on the street is one of rollover safety. If you don't have a cage, using a harness is a bad idea, as most of them won't allow you to move sideways enough to avoid having your head crushed in a rollover. A standard 3 point belt will.
Originally Posted By: hypervish
I believe it it limited to specific states, which may be why your MDX isn't covered under the recall.
That must be it. I can't stand geographic-based recalls. Recalls for corrosion issues are often limited to northern states, as if nobody ever sells cars out of state or folks don't ever move.
I believe it it limited to specific states, which may be why your MDX isn't covered under the recall.
That must be it. I can't stand geographic-based recalls. Recalls for corrosion issues are often limited to northern states, as if nobody ever sells cars out of state or folks don't ever move.
Originally Posted By: tenderloin
Put VIN number to see if your car is included
Airbag VIN Lookup
Thanks. Does the VIN lookup page work for you? It's not loading for me.
Put VIN number to see if your car is included
Airbag VIN Lookup
Thanks. Does the VIN lookup page work for you? It's not loading for me.
Now listed as urgent
Toyota is now informing customers that NO ONE should sit in the
FRONT PASSENGER SEAT UNTIL ONE OF TWO THINGS .....either
the recall is performed, OR Toyota dealers will disable and deactivate the bags in affected cars until the parts for the recall service are in stock and the service is performed.
In any case I say if you have a ANY vehicle that is MORE than
10 years old, with airbags, have them disabled and deactivated.
Most manufacturers state that you cannot count on airbags older than a decade to reliably perform.
FRONT PASSENGER SEAT UNTIL ONE OF TWO THINGS .....either
the recall is performed, OR Toyota dealers will disable and deactivate the bags in affected cars until the parts for the recall service are in stock and the service is performed.
In any case I say if you have a ANY vehicle that is MORE than
10 years old, with airbags, have them disabled and deactivated.
Most manufacturers state that you cannot count on airbags older than a decade to reliably perform.
After reading around some, I think most of the recall actions will be just checking for corrosion. Except for some badly worded recycled news, I'm pretty sure 4.7 million airbags (or more, more than 1 per vehicle) are NOT being recalled.
We are already getting calls from Mazda 6 owners about this. Had one today where it was a mom and her son is in college here and she was frantic wanting to know how soon we could fix it. I finally got the VIN and ran the warranty history and told her there were no open service campaigns at this time and when one was opened she would get a letter and we would be happy to perform whatever repair is necessary.
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
In any case I say if you have a ANY vehicle that is MORE than
10 years old, with airbags, have them disabled and deactivated.
Most manufacturers state that you cannot count on airbags older than a decade to reliably perform.
Super bad advice. Do not do this.
This is what the airbag industry is worried about, that the American consumer will carelessly group together all airbags as being dangerous, just because Takata has shipped bad airbags.
Your claim, that airbags older than 10 years do not perform reliably, is bad information. This is the sort of thing that results in very poor decisions, and could make the difference between a life being saved by an airbag, and not. I sure hope most have the reasoning skills of their own, to research reliable information before they follow bad advice like this.
Part of the reason that the recalls keep expanding, is because Takata has not been able to identify bookends to the process problems that they had. While I am not saying this is necessarily true, it is possible that the number of affected cars are much, much smaller than what is being recalled. But, if Takata can never put bookends on the issue, there may be a lot of cars that have to have new airbags installed.
Meanwhile, there are tens of millions of reliable, safe airbag systems in cars throughout the world. Takata is #3 in airbag and seat belt production. It's been a while since I have seen the numbers, but I believe they have well below 20% of the world market. (The two world leaders in the industry each command 40%, give or take a little, of the market. That doesn't leave a lot for the other players.)
There is no doubt, if I owned a car that was on the list, I would have it in the dealership tomorrow having the airbag disabled. But it would be so foolish to turn off an airbag that is not on the list. Don't condemn all airbags (and yourself to increased risk) because of Takata's mistakes.
In any case I say if you have a ANY vehicle that is MORE than
10 years old, with airbags, have them disabled and deactivated.
Most manufacturers state that you cannot count on airbags older than a decade to reliably perform.
Super bad advice. Do not do this.
This is what the airbag industry is worried about, that the American consumer will carelessly group together all airbags as being dangerous, just because Takata has shipped bad airbags.
Your claim, that airbags older than 10 years do not perform reliably, is bad information. This is the sort of thing that results in very poor decisions, and could make the difference between a life being saved by an airbag, and not. I sure hope most have the reasoning skills of their own, to research reliable information before they follow bad advice like this.
Part of the reason that the recalls keep expanding, is because Takata has not been able to identify bookends to the process problems that they had. While I am not saying this is necessarily true, it is possible that the number of affected cars are much, much smaller than what is being recalled. But, if Takata can never put bookends on the issue, there may be a lot of cars that have to have new airbags installed.
Meanwhile, there are tens of millions of reliable, safe airbag systems in cars throughout the world. Takata is #3 in airbag and seat belt production. It's been a while since I have seen the numbers, but I believe they have well below 20% of the world market. (The two world leaders in the industry each command 40%, give or take a little, of the market. That doesn't leave a lot for the other players.)
There is no doubt, if I owned a car that was on the list, I would have it in the dealership tomorrow having the airbag disabled. But it would be so foolish to turn off an airbag that is not on the list. Don't condemn all airbags (and yourself to increased risk) because of Takata's mistakes.
Seems like there are two issues: first, what happens to old airbags; and two, actually defective airbags. In the former case you might wind up with a poorly operating airbag which may be no better than no airbag. In the latter you have something which can kill and maim.
Pretty sure there are some 10+ year old airbags which are still doing their job when asked to do so.
I think I'd be more worried about seatbelts aged by UV and/or typical emergency braking along with everything else in an old car than old airbags.
Pretty sure there are some 10+ year old airbags which are still doing their job when asked to do so.
I think I'd be more worried about seatbelts aged by UV and/or typical emergency braking along with everything else in an old car than old airbags.
Originally Posted By: supton
Seems like there are two issues: first, what happens to old airbags; and two, actually defective airbags. In the former case you might wind up with a poorly operating airbag which may be no better than no airbag. In the latter you have something which can kill and maim.
Pretty sure there are some 10+ year old airbags which are still doing their job when asked to do so.
I think I'd be more worried about seatbelts aged by UV and/or typical emergency braking along with everything else in an old car than old airbags.
You are so correct. The issue at hand, with the huge recalls involving airbags manufactured by Takata, have much more to do with manufacturing defects than it does with aging. The aging is only a factor because of the manufacturing defect. If Takata had build the airbag inflators correctly in the first place, aging would not be an issue. I could go into much greater detail, but let me leave it at saying that Takata did not adequately control the moisture content of the generant that is put into the airbag inflators. The excess moisture results in a significantly aggressive burn rate, which resulted in the inflator housings exploding.
Aging testing conducted by my company shows that properly manufactured airbags will function properly, and provide the intended protection, throughout the life of a car.
You are also correct in being concerned about seat belt webbing losing strength over time, although seat belts are over engineered enough that, in all but the most violent accidents, they will still provide the protection needed.
It is noteworthy that in Australia, auto safety regulations require replacement of seat belts on a periodic basis. Repair shops have to be certified to replace seat belts.
Seems like there are two issues: first, what happens to old airbags; and two, actually defective airbags. In the former case you might wind up with a poorly operating airbag which may be no better than no airbag. In the latter you have something which can kill and maim.
Pretty sure there are some 10+ year old airbags which are still doing their job when asked to do so.
I think I'd be more worried about seatbelts aged by UV and/or typical emergency braking along with everything else in an old car than old airbags.
You are so correct. The issue at hand, with the huge recalls involving airbags manufactured by Takata, have much more to do with manufacturing defects than it does with aging. The aging is only a factor because of the manufacturing defect. If Takata had build the airbag inflators correctly in the first place, aging would not be an issue. I could go into much greater detail, but let me leave it at saying that Takata did not adequately control the moisture content of the generant that is put into the airbag inflators. The excess moisture results in a significantly aggressive burn rate, which resulted in the inflator housings exploding.
Aging testing conducted by my company shows that properly manufactured airbags will function properly, and provide the intended protection, throughout the life of a car.
You are also correct in being concerned about seat belt webbing losing strength over time, although seat belts are over engineered enough that, in all but the most violent accidents, they will still provide the protection needed.
It is noteworthy that in Australia, auto safety regulations require replacement of seat belts on a periodic basis. Repair shops have to be certified to replace seat belts.
Originally Posted By: willbur
Really? How many seat belts are have been recalled for uv degradation?
Perhaps none. But every Owner's Manual I have ever read cautions the owner to regularly inspect the seat belt webbing, and replace the seat belts if the webbing gets damaged.
Really? How many seat belts are have been recalled for uv degradation?
Perhaps none. But every Owner's Manual I have ever read cautions the owner to regularly inspect the seat belt webbing, and replace the seat belts if the webbing gets damaged.
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