The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is warning drivers of “cheap, substandard replacement airbags” in used cars that may fail to prevent serious injuries or even death in crashes.
The agency said Wednesday that three people had been killed and two others seriously injured in the past nine months because of substandard airbags.
“If consumers own or are considering purchasing a used vehicle, NHTSA encourages them to know the history of their vehicle and ensure that it is equipped with proper airbags,” the agency said.
In each of the five cases where a person was killed or injured, the vehicle had been in a previous crash and the airbags had been replaced. Defective airbags sent “large metal fragments into the chest, neck, eyes and face of drivers, killing or seriously injuring drivers in otherwise survivable crashes,” according to NHTSA.
Other cheap airbags may deploy too slowly, or partially, meaning a vehicle’s occupants may hit the dashboard or steering wheel in a collision.
Anyone looking for a used vehicle should get a vehicle history report, or do so now if they didn’t do so before buying the car, NHTSA said Wednesday.