Defuse those ticking time bombs

A scrapyard worker removes an airbag. Photo: CNN

AS a car owner, you need to know two things about the massive and ongoing Takata airbag recall which is affecting over 50 million vehicles worldwide.

If you are one of the 2 354 people who own an older Lancer 1,6 or Evo, know that Mitsubishi Motors SA (MMSA) this week announced a recall of these cars to replace the risky Takata airbag inflators in them.

The affected model years cars are between 2003 and 2007.

The second thing is that you can have the health of your car’s airbag checked for the price of two
Stickeez at Pick n Pay — or R300.

We strongly recommend you do so if you drive an older car.

If you habitually sit close to the steering wheel due to petite build, we recommend totally dismantling the airbag’s triggers, for the same reasons manufacturers instruct you to turn off the airbag for a baby seat. (More on where to do so below.)

Mitsubishi is one of 11 vehicle manufacturers affected by the potentially defective airbag inflators manufactured by Takata, an original equipment manufacturer for especially Japanese marques, but also BMW Ford, FCA Chrysler and Daimler.

The latest estimate is that 54 million vehicles are potentially affected worldwide.

A sharpened spear would be safer

As we said in 2010, even a sharpened spear is safer.

Wheels have long been preaching against airbags, which we said in 2008 are as likely to prevent injury as cause it, in the process causing more problems than it solves in injury prevention, not the least of which is the cost these exploding devices add to the price of a car.

We argue — alongside great designers like Gordon Murray — it is far more effective and cheaper to use roll cages and double the seat belts, for which airbags only provide supplemental restraint (the SRS on the airbag stands for Supplemental Restraint System).

It has to be said with over a million bombs ticking inches away from people’ faces, surprisingly few people have so far died from exploding Takata airbags. But hundreds have been injured by the very devise designed to keep them safe.

The most recent death was in June, when the driver’s airbag in a rental car killed the driver.

The problem is caused by an inflator that is prone to rust and ammonium nitrate — the trigger chemical in the airbag — that is highly sensitive to temperature changes and moisture.

These breaks down over time. If the ammonium nitrate combusts without cause, it destroys the housing of the airbag and shoot sharp bits of shrapnel into the car.

Reuters report Takata documents, filed in May with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the U.S., stated the main problem is propellant wafers in driver-side inflators installed on 17,6 million U.S. vehicles “may experience an alteration over time” which could lead to “over-aggressive combustion,” particularly when exposed to “high absolute humidity”.

Where to check your airbag

IN KwaZulu-Natal, South Africam we can recommend the company Airbag Renew Durban, on 124 Whittaker Avenue in Reservoir Hills, as the only group to offer owners of older cars full SRS airbag support at affordable prices.

The check on an airbag costs R300, and new airbags can be fitted from R2 000 a bag.

Call them at 082 740 5567 or 083 297 0239

• Lancer owners who want to check if their vehicles are affected can do so on mitsubishi-motors.co.za/recall.

• The full list of vehicles that were equipped with the problematic inflator Takata airbags are on safercar.gov/rs/takata

(First published in Weekend Witness Motoring.)