Posted on 02/27/2012 6:50:44 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Air bags -- driver and front seat passenger air bags -- have been mandatory in cars since the mid-1990s. That means there are now millions of older cars on the road with air bags. These air bags are ticking time bombs, financially speaking (and otherwise; more on that below) because of the ever-less-favorable ratio between the value of the car itself and the cost to repair the car if the air bags go off.
Here's what I mean:
Let's say you own a 2000 model Toyota Corolla. It's still running great and you hope to be able to drive it for at least another five years -- a reasonable expectation given the durability of newer cars. At twelve years old, it still has a lot of useful life left. And because it's paid-off, you have very low fixed costs, transportation-wise.
But, here's the catch.
Your 2000 Corolla is only worth about $3,500 or so, retail. But the cost to replace the air bags, if they go off in an accident, will be in the neighborhood of $1,500-$2,000. Which means, even before you take fixing the actual car into account, the projected repair costs have already come dangerously close to the "50 percent of retail value" threshold -- at which point, most insurance companies will refuse to fix the car. Instead, it will be "totaled" and you will be given a check for the retail value -- usually, a lowball number. Rarely will you receive a check adequate to buy an equivalent vehicle.
........... (A 2002 NHTSA study found that "…nearly all vehicles more than seven years old are scrapped if they are involved in a crash in which their airbag deploys.")
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Thank you for the information and advice.
It’s a decision each of us have to make individually, a gamble. You lost unfortunately, but the car is still driveable and you are doing exactly what I would do, drive it till the wheels fall off,or put it on Craigslist for $4,000 and see if you get a customer.
Thank you. That’s really a wide swing.
Can you say, "abstract art"?
>> And, finally, we drive with our 19 lb Maltipoo on our lap. Wonder what would happen...
My guess: you’d have a 17 pound Malti (that’s what you get when you subtract two pounds of poo from a 19 lb Maltipoo) compression-welded onto your abdomen. It would be like a beer gut that occasionally barks. :-)
Deer hits car ping.
Manufacturers say those "bumpers" absorb the impact and not the people. ????
Then the people get soaked by the manufacturers for replacement parts.
I picked up all the pieces of the mirror housing and the mirror (which had not broken), used cuttings from a coke can as an internal skin with JBWeld and remanufactured the mirror housing, plugged in the electrical connections, snapped on the mirror, and the whole thing works great again - even the heater and electric adjustment. IOW, all damage is cosmetic. I’ll not be selling it. We put $1,200 into the AC just before our drive out here from Seattle in June. When the car is washed it STILL looks brand new from the right angles. ;-) And with that 100 mile a day commute, it is the perfect car to wear out. It’s comfortable, has butt warmers and leather seats, has a killer stereo, high performance package, everything works. It’s kinda nice getting pampered on my commute, actually. It gets about 27 mpg, which is acceptable. I’ll probably even replace the timing belt and water heater again at 190k, but I might do it myself like I did on my Lebaron convertible...
What do you do when the insurance company will not sell comprehensive coverage WITHOUT collision coverage? Both or none. It’s an association, farm bureau, with still better rates than anywhere else.
I also hate that they mandate social security numbers on all drivers to write us a policy period.
After absorbing the high cost of replacing my airbags once, I now disable (using the keyswitch) the passenger side AB on my F150, when I have no passengers.
There is not enough statical evidence in the Universe to distinguish 99.999% and 100.000%.
I got an advertisement recently for a new vehicle (Acura I think) with TEN (10) airbags. C’mon — getting ridiculous.
Aren’t fenders (bumpers) required equipment?
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A piece of 2X6 makes a better bumper than the ones they put on cars today.
Oh my! Ohhhhh..
I have respected Eric Peters in the past, but I don’t accept his word. The fact that he offers no evidence tells me he has none.
>> used cuttings from a coke can as an internal skin with JBWeld
Hey, that’s pretty clever. I think I’ll give that technique a try sometime!
I was in a head-on collision and believe the airbag probably saved my life .Yes ,I did have my belt/shoulder strap on.The other driver ran a red light at 50 to 60 mph ,both cars were totaled.All survived but bruised.When a local car dealer where I was shopping for a replacement car realized which crashed car I wanted to replace ,he and his employyee were amazed .They had seen my car after the crash and were sure the driver must have been killed.
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