Originally Posted by
Bob Parmenter
It's been a decade since I sold my shop, so my references are admittedly dated. Whether or not there is any law requiring the airbags be replaced, we did every time if for no other reason than future liability. No sense making it easy for some blood sucking attorney. At that time side curtain airbags were just starting to filter into the market, so I'm just going to refer to steering wheel and dash airbags. When estimating a job we'd figure about $2k for steering wheel bag replacement, up to a min. $3k if both wheel and passenger side. Charlie is right, that additional cost often pushed a very repairable car to be an economic total loss (typical insurance company calculation was if the total cost of repair exceeded 80% of market value it's a goner, the other 20% or so being salvage value). Some may think those prices high, but as with many things, it's not just the price of the bag itself. Often one or more of the sensors needed replacement, as did the main control module. If the passenger went, then the dash pad needed replacement too. I chose to sublet the job to a certified company that had it's own liability insurance as a backstop to my garage keepers policy. Again, wary of the legal extortion racket. Other shops took risks I wasn't willing to do and gambled on doing it themselves. They often didn't have the needed diagnostic equipment to test if the system would work the next time. Their choice, and statistically they weren't in too much jeopardy, but still........
The outcome is/was that a fair number of not severely damaged cars found their way to the salvage auctions, There, they would be purchased by any number of "underground" repair facilities that had/have a reputation for shoddy repairs, and because of cost "containment", they often would get a used bag or hub cover from the salvage yard and just not replace the airbags, or put in a used bag without hooking it up. Some of those cars would end up in containers to meet overseas car demands, but most found their way back onto the streets to the "bargain hunters" who may not have been "sophisticated" enough to realize what they were buying (poor repairs, branded or faked title, lack of properly functioning basic safety equipment, and so on.)