Somewhere in my files I have a page from a new car owner’s manual circa 2020 that says – right there in black and white – that the vehicle’s air bags should be replaced at 12 years. I have not seen these warnings lately.
I suspect they have been quietly omitted for the obvious reasons.
I have no doubt that, after a certain number of years, the various components that comprise the air bag system – italics to make the point that is not just the air bags, themselves – have begun to degrade, just as all things mechanical and electrical (and biological) do. Wires get brittle; connections get loose. Things ossify. Things crack. Eventually – inevitably – they fail. With air bags, failure can encompass deploying – that is to say, exploding – while you’re driving. Without your having hit anything. The explosive canister just detonates – right in your face. This has been the cause of a number of deaths and serious injuries. Or the bag may not deploy when it should have – because you did hit something.
Because the bag’s not working.
But the cost of replacing even two air bags is so cost-prohibitive that few would agree to have them replaced. And it is cost-absurd to replace them relative to the value of a vehicle that is 12 years old or older.
My Nissan Frontier pickup, as a for-instance, is 23 years old now. I probably ought to replace the air bags – for essentially the same reason I’ve replaced various other things, such as the water pump and will probably soon have to replace the clutch (which is original, amazingly). Well, for more than just that reason. If I don’t replace the clutch when it begins to slip, the truck might not make it up the hill.
But it’s not going to kill me.
The air bag in the steering wheel, on the other hand. It could mess up my face. But the only way to legally avoid that possibility is to have the bag and all the related components of the system replaced. Because it is illegal for any shop (or for me or for you) to “tamper with or disable/defeat” any federally required “safety” device. Even if only temporarily. Even if the government says the air bags are defective.
Even if it kills you.
And no matter what it costs you.
Which – in my case – would be a sum roughly equivalent to the value of the truck, itself.
It would probably cost at least $3,000 to have the driver and front passenger air bags and all related components replaced. The truck is maybe worth $4,000. This is why so many otherwise mechanically sound older vehicles like my truck are declared “total losses” after an accident that results in the deployment of the air bags. Even though the vehicle is – or rather, would be – otherwise repairable. But the air bags must be replaced because if not the vehicle isn’t legal to operate on the government’s roads.
There are no such things as the “public” roads.
The vehicle will fail the “safety inspection” required in most states to be allowed to use the vehicle on the government’s roads. So even though it’s not unsafe to drive – in the sense that it is prone to loss of control or unstable or some other attribute that renders it likely to crash – it is regarded as “unsafe” by the same government that says you must buy air bags.
Even if they kill you.
And my old truck only has two air bags. Every new and recent-year model vehicle has at least four and most have six. Some have as many as eight. It is a fait accompli that these bags – and the peripherals – will never be replaced, irrespective of whether it is safe to leave them in situ after 12 years or more.
It is actually surprising that the government that imposed these things on us has not also issued another imposition – one that requires us to have the bags replaced (at our expense, of course) after 12 years – in the interests of “safety,” naturally.
Ironically, it actually would be safer – assuming you can afford it. But few of us could. And that would provide another wonderfully ingenious way to out-regulate older vehicles without having to outlaw them. This is the technique used by the pernicious little weevils who constitute what is often misleading styled “the government” – as if it were a living creature of some kind rather than a bunch of creatures.
They haven’t done it yet – but that doesn’t mean they won’t. Especially given the problem they’ve got with regard to the battery-powered devices (EVs) they want to push us all into – by pushing us out of vehicles that aren’t devices.
. . .
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Meanwhile those 50 year old seatbelts still work just fine.
Airbags are a fix no one asked for and no one needed. If you’re worried about injury, wear your seat belt. Don’t wanna wear a seat belt? Well, that’s on you then.
But there’s no money in personal responsibility. So airbags all around, boys! Look at all the safety!
About 38,000 deaths on American highways every year. The majority of cars (98% according to ChatGPT) on the road have at least one airbag, given the age of the fleet and that airbags were mandated in 1999. That number didn’t seem to go down since 1999 either.
Of course airbags don’t exist in a vacuum either. Bolstering side impact collision areas, changes in seats and engineering a safety zone, all that might help. And of course if the airbags go off it’s probably too late.
No discussion about improving driver training. Nope. That’s racist or something. And no talk about how people are taking on more risk than necessary, perhaps because they feel safer in their cocoon.
Small aircraft are starting to get parachute systems installed. This is a safety mechanism that claims to save lives. The problem is, once you pull that ripcord, you’re done flying. “Aviate, navigate, communicate” is the rule when declaring an emergency. If the pilot deploys the parachute, he’s now a passenger. But over time, I’ll bet there will be plenty of situations that should have been controllable or even avoidable, but because the pilot gave up, will mean a bad day becomes a worse one. And those pilots will be commended for “making the right call.”
THIS INFORMATION IS FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO DO SO.
Airbag disconnection is technically illegal under federal law but it can be done easily and safely.
You will need tools to disassemble the steering wheel and will also need a volt-ohm meter. Additional parts needed will be a 100K potentiometer, used to determine the resistance value needed to turn off the airbag light. Connect the center and one of the side lugs on the potentiometer to the airbag vehicle connector, NOT to the airbag connector itself.
1. Disconnect the vehicle battery and wait 15 minutes for the airbag circuit capacitors to discharge.
2. Remove the airbag from the steering wheel and unplug the airbag connector.
3. Reconnect the vehicle battery and connect the potentiometer to the vehicle airbag connector.
4. Rotate the potentiometer shaft until the airbag light goes out.
5. Disconnect the potentiometer from the airbag circuit.
6. Using the volt-ohm meter, measure the resistance of the potentiometer center and side lug.
7. Obtain a fixed-value resistor of the same resistance value (ohms) and attach it to the connector.
8. Reinstall the airbag without plugging in the connector.
IMPORTANT! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MEASURE THE RESISTANCE OF THE AIRBAG DIRECTLY. IT WILL DEPLOY IF YOU USE THE VOLT-OHM METER TO ATTEMPT TO MEASURE AIRBAG RESISTANCE DIRECTLY.
So because they’re mandated, why make ’em better? Just build to the 1980s standard and shove it in.
I wanted to upgrade the stereo in my Audi. The head unit was easy enough to swap, just had to get a few shims to unlatch the clips that held it in. Easy enough to pick up a navigation head on eBay too. What was hard was finding someone who would be willing to flash the ECM to “open up” the navigation head and allow it to work in the vehicle. So I figured it was more hassle than it was worth and just got a nice phone mount instead.
I’m sure if airbags were optional (and desired) they’d have a similar lock in the ECM. Don’t want people DIY’ing anything now, do we?
Safety….haha
The intersection between fire risks and insurance will end the EV dream…
US Auto Insurer State farm…. BANS EV charging in its OWN car parks
Fire dept says don’t charge EV’s underground….or…… put in complex, very expensive sprinkler systems
insurance companies may not cover buildings with underground charging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cGyvVxFDas
Ban the ice cars….then ban EV’s….too dangerous…..can’t be insured…
Agenda 2030….walking only…. around the 15 min city/prison camp….
insurance companies may not cover buildings with underground charging
next… houses with garage charging…no insurance….
All city councils and fire departments should be made aware of this….
US Auto Insurer State farm…. BANS EV charging in its OWN car parks
Fire dept says don’t charge EV’s underground….or…… put in complex, very expensive sprinkler systems
insurance companies may not cover buildings with underground charging
How about huge ferries stuffed full of 300 EV’s?…no insurance too?….
I am so glad I bought my 2000 Chevy C-3500 pickup new. It does not have a single airbag. It was the last fleet truck in the 1 ton range that did not mandate a airbag(s). I am like Eric, I maintain and baby my truck and have 289.000 or so miles on it and it isn’t worth trying to ascertain a value. I have been offered $11,000 for the truck and declined it. I could not buy a comparable pickup with that figure and being a one owner truck I know it’s quarks… Like the driver driving it…
Hi Cederq,
You’ve got a great truck – hold onto it! I intend to do the same with mine!
The only component in an airbag system that might fail after 12 years is the backup battery. Chevy called it a DERM (diagnostic energy reserve module), buried in the dash.
>You don’t get a new car – unless the old one was nearly new when it was totaled. What you get is a check for the depreciate “book value” –
Another argument to buy old cars….
NOTE: there is no blue book…etc….for 25 year old cars…
If you paid $2500 for the 25 year old vehicle, because you did research, bought low….there is a good chance the insurance company might pay you $3000 or more for the car if insured and written off…or repairs exceed value…might only be a minor dent….they won’t fix it…they have no idea how much that vehicle is actually worth…there is no data….they might overpay you….
or….. there is an agenda to pay more to get these vehicles off the road…you take the cash instead of driving it with a dent…or fixing it yourself….this is happening right now…..
the sound of the old cars heading to the crusher…..
See……Classic Cars Crushed by ULEZ Scrappage Scheme Since 2023 Revealed by FOI Request!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlKVc_1T2IM
“that the vehicle’s air bags should be replaced at 12 years.”
Any vehicle with more then 12 year old airbags…or no airbags…is illegal to drive….
that would help the stop the slaves mobility agenda…..eliminating cars…
slaves are easier to round up…if they are not speeding off in their vehicles…. into the wilderness to hide….ban those vehicles….
picking up speed….15 min city/prison camp…no mobility…coming into view….
“BIOMETRIC DETENTION CENTERS” is what they are calling their experiment for the survivors of the Palestinian genocide that will ultimately be used for Palestinianized Americans.
I’ve never given it any thought. My 24-year-old Sierra will allow the passenger airbag to be disabled by turning a switch with the ignition key. I’m liking the ideas below of either putting a resistor in line or pulling a fuse.
> declared “total losses” after an accident that results in the deployment of the air bags.
Which means you get a brand new car as replacement, instead of having to drive a patched up one. Clean CarFax on the new vehicle.
Eric will be along in about 30 seconds to remind us that we all pay in higher insurance premiums. 🙂 But, hey, I’ll take the cash settlement, sufficient to replace the old with a new vehicle.
Tip: save the window sticker, which will guarantee you get like for like replacement, not a “base model” to replace one which was “loaded” (i.e. lots of upgrades). BTDT.
With respect, most auto insurance pays the depreciated value of the vehicle.
That is, if my 1998 Fronty gets crashed or stolen, I might expect to net $3,500 or so after the deductible is applied.
New car replacement coverage exists (at a stiff price), but there’s a catch:
‘If your new car is stolen or totaled in the first year, you’ll get the money for a brand-new car, not just the depreciated value.’
https://www.libertymutual.com/vehicle/auto-insurance/coverage/new-car-replacement-insurance
You’re in good hands with The Mafia™. 🙂
“New car replacement coverage exists (at a stiff price)”
That is an argument for leasing…if you crash and there is a depreciation loss…the lessor…not the lessee takes the loss….
when you lease you don’t own the car…the lessor…leasing company does…the insurance is in their name too…as the owner….
This makes even more sense from a public liability viewpoint….
If you hit a dentist and they sue for personal injury…the liability can be very high….millions of dollars….if you are a lessee…the owner…the lessor has to pay….
If you hit a dentist and they sue for personal injury…the liability can be very high….millions of dollars…this is a sword hanging over everybody driving a car…..this potential liability….
If you crash your car and get it repaired….when you sell it it will be worth less because it was damaged, hit….if you lease the leasing company will eat that loss when they get rid of that car…..
If there is huge depreciation in a car …..like the EV’s now….if you lease the leasing company eats that loss…..after your 2 or 3 year lease…just give the keys back…..
when you lease you don’t own the car…the lessor…leasing company does….when you buy a car you don’t own it either….when you register it…or anything else….you gave up ownership….this why they want to have guns registered….then you don’t own them anymore….
If you have a business or a job where you can write off the lease cost against your income a lease is better
NOTE: Read all the fine print in you lease…nobody does….
Another alternative is put everything you own in a trust…then you own nothing personally and are happy….they can’t get anything out of you….
Protecting your home with a trust……in video….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOSwMjXOe6Q
Hi Adi,
You don’t get a new car – unless the old one was nearly new when it was totaled. What you get is a check for the depreciated “book value” – according to them. This of course is often less than the totaled vehicle was worth to you. As a case in point, my ’02 Nissan pick-up’s book value is about $4k. But it’s worth more – to me – because I have carefully maintained it and treated it very well, such that it is in functionally as-new or nearly condition. I could not buy an equivalent replacement for $4k.
As soon as a car drives over the curb…it’s first 200 feet on the road….it loses 10% of it’s value off of the wholesale price…if there was a 8% markup to the retail msrp…that is an 18% loss in the first ten minutes driving….that is it’s new official value….
That is how much money you will get after a write off unless you have….New car replacement coverage
Then every year after that it loses another 15%…. every year….
NOTE: the new EV’s are far worse then this…far more depreciation…anybody that bought one is a moron…..brainwashed by big media…..
On a new $100,000 vehicle the 1st 10 minutes of driving costs you $18,000…then 12 months after you buy it there is another (15%) loss…$12,300…total loss 1st 12 months….$30,300….
That is why a $3000 vehicle is better…only $450 per year depreciation…..but more maintenance…but…still way cheaper then a new vehicle….
>You don’t get a new car – unless the old one was nearly new when it was totaled. What you get is a check for the depreciate “book value” –
Yes, I know that. As I said, BTDT.
Should have said, “You have the option of purchasing a new vehicle with the cash settlement, instead of being forced to drive a ‘patched up’ vehicle.” A vehicle which has sustained major damage and been repaired will fetch less on resale, thanks to CarFax, and your insurance company is *not* going to cover that loss, AFAIK.
>“book value”
As I stated above, it is important to document the actual equipment. Best way I know to do that on a *new* car is to peel off the window sticker and save it. The difference in value between a “base model” and what you were driving can be significant, as most people realize.
When I wrecked my 2013 in 2014, first insurance offer was based on value of a “base model,” which was too low, because I was driving a vehicle with numerous upgrades. When I proved to insurance company what I actually had, they quickly came around, and their settlement was fair.
As it happens, I elected *not* to replace the vehicle. thus relieving myself of a monthly car payment. So, for me, totaling the car was something of a blessing.
Now the question becomes, “What is the proper value of a ‘restored’ or ‘semi-restored’ older vehicle?” Such as your T/A, or my 1989 F150, etc. If you wreck it, will your insurance company recognize your investment in restoration? I doubt it.
“What is the proper value of a ‘restored’ or ‘semi-restored’ older vehicle?” Such as your T/A, or my 1989 F150, etc. If you wreck it, will your insurance company recognize your investment in restoration?
All you could do is find examples of what something similar sold for at auction…bringatrailer has the price history of the vehicles they sold and what they sold for…there is other auction sites too….
If it is a one off…no price history…you may be screwed….an appraisal would help….
You can find out your vehicle’s value…put it up for auction….you will find out quickly….
>All you could do is find examples of what something similar sold for at auction
Yes, but will your insurance company honor that information, or will they go strictly “by the book?” AFAIK, you will need to find an insurance company which will write a policy based on “agreed value,” or “stated value.” Not all insurers offer such coverage, but some do.
Ass-u-me has its usual meaning.
All you could do is find examples of what something similar sold for at auction
Yes, but will your insurance company honor that information, or will they go strictly “by the book
There has been cases where they do take this into consideration….worth trying….
With the internet this is far easier now….
if not…off to court…..fight these bastards…represent yourself in court…learn how….better then a lawyer…..
find examples of what something similar sold for at auction…
when I buy a used car I do a lot of this…to figure out values…then I only buy slightly below these values….
Hi Adi,
I have an “agreed value” policy that will pay . . . agreed value. So – yes – the company is obliged to “recognize (my) investment in restoration.” The car isn’t restored, by the way. It is preserved. The body and paint are nearly all original, as is the interior. I have gone through it mechanically – and all of that is acknowledged in the policy.
Of course, I’d skip it altogether if I could choose to do so (freely). The annual cost isn’t much but it does add up and the risk is so low as to be effectively nil. I drive the car less than 500 miles a year.
>I could not buy an equivalent replacement for $4k.
Be glad you do not have a new vehicle with*stupid* long term financing, such that you would be upside down, and have to pay off the difference, if you ever wrecked it before you paid off the loan. Most people here are smarter than that, but there is no shortage of fools in this world.
You know it, Adi!
Buying a new car is perhaps the most costly “investment” one can make. Homes at least usually do not lose value. Cars almost always do.
>Buying a new car is perhaps the most costly “investment”
As you and I, and probably everyone here, realizes, autos are *not* “investments,” but machinery, which inevitably wears out, and are thus depreciating capital assets.
Sooner or later, they nearly all end up at a facility such as this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix7eEk0G1B0
The MegaShredder at this facility was designed and built by Riverside Engineering of San Antonio, TX, one of the leaders in this field, and was installed in the 1990s, when the facility was owned and operated by Hugo Neu, which later sold out to Sims, an Australian company.
Steel, FWIW, is one of the most recycled, and therefore one of the “greenest,” materials on the planet.
‘It is a fait accompli that these bags – and the peripherals – will never be replaced, irrespective of whether it is safe to leave them in situ after 12 years or more.’ — eric
Likewise, we can assert a fait accompli that most EeeVee batteries never will be replaced, although theoretically they could be if the costly, specialized part remains available.
Most EeeVees have an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the battery. Basically, EeeVees are meant to kept for a decade, then discarded.
Who would buy a used EeeVee that’s out of warranty, with over 100,000 miles on the odometer? NOT ME.
Drive on people
People drive on
I ain’t no sucker, I ain’t no fool
Talking about the battery blues, yeah
— The Cult, Automatic Blues
>Most EeeVees have an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the battery.
Well, I recently replaced a “3 year” starter battery on my Ford which failed @ 30 months.
30/36 = 0.8333
(0.8333)*8 = 6.6667
So, if prior experience with batteries is any guide, I would not expect to see even 7 years, let alone 10. GFL.
If the one or more propulsion batteries fail at 7 years, will the warranty supply a new battery pack, installed, at no charge to you, or will it give you a 1/8 credit towards a new ($$$) uninstalled battery pack? I am betting it is the latter, and considering the replacement cost, batteries plus labor, I expect you have significant risk of total loss, i.e. uneconomical repair, at significantly lower age than stated battery warranty of 8 years.
Would I ever buy an electric vehicle? NFW.
“The vehicle will fail the “safety inspection” required in most states to be allowed to use the vehicle on the government’s roads”
Fact: most states don’t require a vehicle safety inspection. Only 15 states have vehicle safety inspections.
Eric, I know you have roots in VA and enjoy it there. You’re suffering from East Coast normalcy bias. Most states are nothing like tyrannical VA. For some reason, the East Coast loved and supports the tyranny of vehicle inspections more so than the rest of the country. I’ve never understood why this is so widely tolerated in the East.
For your own sanity and personal freedom, I’m pleading with you to move to a place that better matches your life philosophy. You cannot and will not ever improve a place like VA. You are simply outnumbered.
State inspections is just welfare for mechanics. Back in PA I had a buddy (everyone had a buddy) who had an inspection license/sign. Every year I’d drive over to his place, he’d give the car a look over and put a new sticker on the windshield. He knew the car, he knew the driver, so it wasn’t the usual $500+ job because the dealer would inevitably find something wrong inspection.
https://www.paadps.com/officialinspectionstationsigns.aspx
My old car now has some resistors in place of the air bags, because I had the dash apart fixing something else, and I figured I might as well do that, since I fear that claymore going off in my face. That’s all the ABS system does to check whether an airbag is healthy – measure the resistance of the igniter. In this case, it took a 2.2 ohm resistor in each airbag.
My only concern is that modern cars (including my 2002 Infiniti) have seat belts designed to deposit you into the airbag, so in the case of a crash, you might get more injured without one. I’ll just have to avoid crashing. Hasn’t been a problem in the 35 years I’ve been driving.
Oh, and unless someone takes apart your steering wheel housing and the dashboard, they won’t know the airbags are missing. The ABS system will indicate that it’s healthy.
I wonder if 2.2 ohms is the standard for all airbags.
You can buy 10 for $2.60.
https://www.amazon.com/California-JOS-Carbon-Resistor-Tolerance/dp/B0BR69J5F3/ref=asc_df_B0BR69J5F3/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693270340071&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4327261722305799158&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012099&hvtargid=pla-2064636051508&mcid=b380dc4536a33ed58ad4b73305c9afc6&th=1
I wonder if you can just pull the fuse, until inspection time and then briefly reinsert it.