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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."
I was wondering why my new airbag looked so much like beach ball attached to a can of Fix-a-Flat.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
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.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
China - The first economy based of stealing other people's ideas and manufacturing it for less.
sudo make me a sandwich
I'd be surprised if this hasn't been happening for some time. Everything else has been KIRFed, look at the variety of cheap crappy aftermarket car parts on eBay.
I'm a little suprised even the legit ones work properly. Manufacturers of anything in China are the same mindset of those who passed off industrial chemicals as baby milk formula. Speaking of which, watch out for packaged food in the supermarkets these days - a lot of it says 'Made in China' and it's just a matter of time before a major ingredients scandal hits.
Since the inspection and replacement is not covered by insurance or the auto shop I can only imagine that these counterfeit airbags will be on teh road for a long time.
Considering many / most people would go through insurance to get a new airbag installed as it's typically one part of a bigger job (ie. your front bumper assembly and other parts probably needed replacing at the same time) it's strange that Insurance would not cover the inspection.
You just paid a deductible just to get the work done and now you are being told that you need to pay to get it re-inspected and then you need to pay if the airbag is indeed a fake.
The burden shouldn't be on the consumer unless they knowingly purchased it and installed it themselves.
How so? This is a bait & switch situation. US company orders a $50 part from China. Someone in China decides to send a $20 part in its' place and pocket the other $30.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Your nukes have fake Chinese slapper detonators, they won't explode on hitting the target. You'll only be supplying them with cheap extra plutonium.
Ezekiel 23:20
You even need to be careful of the legit air bags.... http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57444565-71/airbag-saves-man-then-kills-him/
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. ... Dai Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, had the counterfeit air bags manufactured
Given how hard we've been trying to extradite Kim Dotcom for facilitating copyright infringement, I assume we will be getting at least as heavy handed with China over this guy's tens of thousands of cases of attempted fraudulent homicide (or whatever it is called).
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
What are our officials thinking!?!?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
...the expulsion of metal shrapnel during deployment.
Finally! I've been advocating something like this for years: install a device that ensures certain death in a crash and everyone will drive way more carefully.
Blank until
...it's just a matter of time before a major ingredients scandal hits.
Waddya mean 'before'?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
True, but doesn't most of the crap bought in the U.S. come from China?
Dollar stores also have a lot of food items these days, especially since they now also have $2 and $3 items.
One thing I've noticed is that a lot of items now say "Made in PRC" instead of "Made in China".
The good thing is, I also see a lot of items made in Italy, Germany, Netherlands, etc. We even also have items made in Canada and the USA!
Speaking of which, watch out for packaged food in the supermarkets these days - a lot of it says 'Made in China' and it's just a matter of time before a major ingredients scandal hits.
Too late: Study: Most Honey Is Just Fake, Pollenless Goo
But I wouldn't blame the Chinese only. Our own Federal government is the one to blame. As long as the fake cheaper substitutes do not kill us, our own government won't intervene.
Vote with your feet people. Learn which stores carry fake honey. You never know what else they might be carrying that's fake. My local Safeway for instance still carries fake honey (even after the news came out), but my local Trader Joes' doesn't (it apparently never did).
True, but doesn't most of the crap bought in the U.S. come from China?
Not even remotely. Year to date in 2012 the US has imported about $235 billion in goods from China (out of ~$1323 billion total imports) which accounts for a little under 18% of total imports. Not even under the most wild definition of "most" does most of the stuff we buy come from China.
China is the most dangerous country in the world today. And the information about how horrible the Chinese, despite them getting MUCH worse given the economic situation, the information flow has been nearly shut down since 2007 timeframe. There were big 60 minutes type exposes in 2007 but since then the Police State has seen that information regarding our forced consumption of Chinese Walmart Plastic with Federal Reserve Notes remains in place.
China tires bad:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118278927863547228.html
The organizing committee of Beijingâ(TM)s Olympic games has promised to investigate charges that official merchandise is being manufactured using child labor.
The PRC Chinese poison dog food:
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20070523/chinese_protein_export_scandal-id-104033.html
The PRC Chinese poison toothpaste:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02toothpaste.html?ex=1181620800&en=d26dab8b2bd85303&ei=5070
The PRC Chinese poison Children's Toys:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070614/thomas_recall_070614/20070614?hub=CTVNewsAt11
http://blogs.eastbayexpress.com/92510/2007/06/thomas_why_hath_thou_forsaken.php
Chinese Seafood Detained for Safety
http://www.topix.com/forum/food/TFSGN6836LFM2QFV7
Melamine put into milk formula, dog food, etc.
http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/got-melamine-53000-chinese-children-did-in-their-milk.html
- Cow milk so inundated with antibiotics you can not make Yogurt from it.
- Pigs force-fed waste water.
- Lard made from separating fats from sewage.
Made in China: tainted food, fake drugs and dodgy paint
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2118920,00.html
China Jails 2 Protestant Church Leaders
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/china-jails-two-protestant-leaders/58150/
The PRC Chinese government has murdered countless people:
"DEATH BY GOVERNMENT: GENOCIDE AND MASS MURDER"
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.TAB1.GIF
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.FIG1.GIF
Given modern industrial process and productivity, I don't even see how using Chinese slave labor saves that much in the face of having to crate up and ship the goods from china to consuming markets.
The bean counters saved maybe 10% at best making product, and now with the price of shipping goods going up due to petrol, they are probably paying more to have it made in China.
The only real reason it may never come back to the US is a host of states (NY, CA) and The Fedzilla / US government that have a long list of anti-business laws making a return to the US difficult.
You want Made in the USA? Tell state and federal congress to stop doing everything to drive up the cost of business compared to China and India (the only two competitors that matter); stop buying Chinese crap where possible.
Slave Labor rented at a PREMIUM with low quality results is still apparently cheaper than coming back her
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.
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...
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
About a year and half ago I looked into buying a salvage car that was in a minor accident and repairing it myself. Cars these days have at least 6 air bags + seat belt tensioners, and having 3-4 of them blow is very common in an accident. Replacing the air bags is a MAJOR expense, so I looked into ebay and other sources of air bags. There are/were several sites that sold these bags at greatly reduced prices, in high numbers for all car makers. This didn't make a hell of a lot of sense, as they were even cheaper than junkyards. After a bit of digging I found that counterfeit bags were a problem, and the ebay bags were most likely counterfeit.
I can't of course prove that these bags were counterfeit, but nothing else really made any sense. I actually abandoned my salvage car project after it didn't really make any financial and risk management sense. Real bags from the automaker are very expensive, and then you have to worry about screwing it all up if you DIY. In the end I didn't want to hold myself responsible for a passenger in my car being seriously injured because I wanted to save $1000.
AccountKiller
Yup, Clinton DID do that. In addition, he gave them permanent MFN.
However, he was hoping that things would be on the up and up. The problem is that since that time, W, and now O, did LITTLE TO NOTHING about China cheating on all aspects of it. Even WTO has said that many issues are up with China, but all are afraid to rock the boat. And I DO point to both parties. However, it is the neo-cons that scream about dropping regulations esp. when goods come from China, AND EVEN are opposed to taking legal actions against Chinese companies. They continue to push for bills that will allow China to dump any goods here and NOT be sued.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
You can't afford a five year-old Hyundai Elantra?
A 2007 Hyundai Elantra with 50,000 miles in very good condition has a private party blue book in excess of $8,000. While I could (though would not want to) finance it, I most certainly don't have $8,000 sitting around doing nothing to frivolously spend on an underpowered and unenjoyable Korean sedan.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
(Newton euphemistically called it standing on the shoulder of giants; but we all know he's nothing but a plagiarzing punk ;-)
Yes apparently Newton was a plagarizing punk (your words, not mine)... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants
That honey article is misleading -- there's nothing fake about ultra-filtered, pollenless honey. The issue was this pollenless honey was ultrafiltered so they couldn't trace the pollen back to the country of origin, China in this case.
"Nutritional" benefit of pollen in honey that you're lacking? Puh-fucking-leeze. Issues of other kinds of contamination are valid, of course, but that can occur with "normal" pollen-a-liscious honey, too.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
That honey article is misleading -- there's nothing fake about ultra-filtered, pollenless honey.
That's correct. Ultra-filtered honey isn't proof-positive that it's fake.
However...
[...]
Food safety investigators from the European Union barred all shipments of honey from India because of the presence of lead and illegal animal antibiotics. Further, they found an even larger amount of honey apparently had been concocted without the help of bees, made from artificial sweeteners and then extensively filtered to remove any proof of contaminants or adulteration or indications of precisely where the honey actually originated.
An examination of international and government shipping tallies, customs documents and interviews with some of North America’s top honey importers and brokers documented the rampant honey laundering and that a record amount of the Chinese honey was being purchased by major U.S. packers.
Food Safety News contacted Suebee Co-Op, the nation’s oldest and largest honey packer and seller, for a response to these allegations and to learn where it gets its honey. The co-op did not respond to repeated calls and emails for comment. Calls and emails to other major honey sellers also were unreturned.
EU Won’t Accept Honey from India
Much of this questionable honey was officially banned beginning June 2010 by the 27 countries of the European Union and others. But on this side of the ocean, the FDA checks few of the thousands of shipments arriving through 22 American ports each year.
According to FDA data, between January and June, just 24 honey shipments were stopped from entering the country. The agency declined to say how many loads are inspected and by whom.
However, during that same period, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that almost 43 million pounds of honey entered the U.S. Of that, the Department of Commerce said 37.7 million pounds came from India, the same honey that is banned in the EU because it contained animal medicine and lead and lacked the proper paperwork to prove it didn’t come from China.
“There are still millions of pounds of transshipped Chinese honey coming in the U.S. and it’s all coming now from India and Vietnam and everybody in the industry knows that,” said Elise Gagnon, president of Odem International, a worldwide trading house that specializes in bulk raw honey.
The FDA says it has regulations prohibiting foods banned in other countries from entering the U.S. However, the agency said last month that it “would not know about honey that has been banned from other countries ”
Adee called the FDA’s response “absurd.” He said the European ban against Indian honey is far from a secret.
“Why are we the dumping ground of the world for something that’s banned in all these other countries?” asked Adee, who, with 80,000 bee colonies in five states, is the country’s largest honey producer.
“We’re supposed to have the world’s safest food supply but we’re letting in boatloads of this adulterated honey that all these other countries know is contaminated and FDA does nothing.”
[...]
[Source]
And please note that for the EU, a ban against "Indian honey" is a ban against "Chinese honey", because Chinese Honey was being re-routed through India and then the UK to take advantage of their commonwealth connection so that it could get into the EU in the first place without paying huge tariffs.
And again, this is only circumstantial evidence, not definitive proof, but here is a video documentary on the start of mass disappearance of bees in China. http://w