About those Air Bags in Your Car

"There are now millions of older cars on the road with air bags," writes Eric Peters at the American Spectator, and they "are ticking time bombs, financially speaking..." in a couple of ways.

First, if the air bag deploys in a minor fender-bender, a $1500 to $2000 replacement bill to install new air bags will be factored in to repair estimates; and their huge cost could cause the older car to be totaled by the insurance company. "A 2002 NHTSA study," Peters reports, "found that '...nearly all vehicles more than seven years old are scrapped if they are involved in a crash in which their airbag deploys'."

Second, over time airbags can "degrade and develop problems" just like any other part in a car, and no one can know when they may become dysfunctional. With some 15 years of air bag experience behind them, several automakers have begun building in service schedules for airbags — at an undetermined cost to car owners. Writes Peters:

I like to read the owner's manuals of the new vehicles I test drive each week. That's how I discovered the warning that (to cite one example) "SRS system must be serviced" at 10 years. In one case, a major car maker specifically recommends replacing the bags (and related sensors, etc.) at 12 years — and you can imagine what that would cost.

It's something to think about when deciding whether to hold on to an older, payment-free car or buying a newer model.