Counterfeit Air Bag Racket Blows Up

Hugh Pickens writes "According to Joan Lowy of the Associated Press, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has alerted the auto repair industry that tens of thousands of car owners may be driving vehicles with counterfeit air bags, which fail to inflate properly or don't inflate at all. Although no deaths or injuries have been tied to the counterfeit bags, it's unclear whether police accident investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit bag from a genuine one. The counterfeit bags typically have been made to look like air bags from automakers, and usually include a manufacturer's logo, but government investigators believe many of the bags come from China. Auto dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including air bags, directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed counterfeit bags. But only 37 percent of auto dealers have their own body shops, so many consumers whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker. Safety officials will warn millions of Americans that the air bags in over 100 vehicle models could be dangerous counterfeits, telling them to have their cars and trucks inspected as soon as possible. Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, had the counterfeit air bags manufactured by purchasing genuine auto air bags that were torn down and used to produce molds to manufacture the counterfeit bags. Trademark emblems were purchased through dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit air bags, which were then advertised on the Guangzhou Auto Parts website and sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an authentic air bag. The NHTSA has made a list of automobiles available that may be at risk for having counterfeit air bags."

Comments

Won't be the last

[Ogive17]

I'm in the OE service part industry. We've been dealing with counterfeit parts from China for the past decade, one of the reasons why less companies are allowing any assembly to occur there. The Chinese subsidiary companies will even cheat their own US/Japan mother company....

I saw video comparing the counterfeit to the OE airbags. If the counterfeit bag even deployed, it was very delayed and rarely had enough pressure to actually prevent serious injury.

Re:Won't be the last

[Dupple]

It's not just car parts. It's happening in the aircraft industry and else where. There's also the issue of refurbished parts being sold as new...

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=67ee8eb6-54ae-403c-bcd5-3c76b6f95506

Re:Well, that explains it

[CubicleZombie]

Here's a video of a counterfeit airbag in action. The first one just didn't work. The second one grenaded in the dummy's face. Both defective and dangerous.

What, you think they contain propellant?

[Ellis D. Tripp]

Actually making a counterfeit functional would cut into their profits.

I would be surprised if these things actually contained any energetic materials at all. Probably just a short-circuited connector to fool the idiot light circuit, and an empty housing, filled with sand or whatever for weight.

The Chinese were caught sending counterfeit circuit breakers over here a few years ago, with nothing inside but a switch. No overcurrent protection at all. They have no qualms at all about faking safety-critical devices to make a buck...