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."

Well, that explains it

[crazyjj]

I was wondering why my new airbag looked so much like beach ball attached to a can of Fix-a-Flat.

Re:The time has come

[K. S. Kyosuke]

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.

Re:They really don't work

[Farmer Tim]

...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.

Re:I do not trust Chinese manufacturing, BUT ....

[WindBourne]

And yet, I up until recent times, I voted Libertarian. And I suspect that you will never be able to post intelligently.

Re:Well, that explains it

[supervillainsf]

I don't RTFA, but there's not a single thing in TFS saying the "counterfeits" are defective or dangerous. Indeed, no one's been hurt. Sounds like it's just a case of trademark infringement, a practice that usually saves the consumer money.

Let me translate your post:

"I got really poor marks in reading comprehension and am way too lazy to actually click on a link and spend a whole 2 minutes of my life reading something that isn't distilled down to LCD levels, but I really felt the need to post something that demonstrates my bias"

Thank you for posting I am a better person for reading your intelligent comment.

Re:Well, that explains it

[swalve]

That sounds suspiciously like onerous Obama regulations on business that are destroying America, to me. These proud businessmen are charging $1000 for a part packed in newspaper in a box that has "xmass Gnome figure" crossed out and "A1R8AG for TOYOTACAMERY" written on the side that they bought for $75 from some guy in a van. They are wealth creators! Leave 'em alone, ya commie. Also, caveat emptor, you should have known better. When the "airbag" filled with depleted uranium kills your family, don't try suing anyone either, or else you'd be a lazy goldbrick, looking to profit off of the poor businessman who's just trying to feed his family and his beleaguered insurance company.