Takata air bag recall for orphaned vehicles

I had some problems getting parts for my older Lamborghini. Guess I should have called Chrysler as they owned them for around 5 years - wonder what they would have said.....

I was in the exact same situation with my Pontiac Solstice - got the recall, went to a GM dealer and they did the work. Not sure why there is even a question with a Vibe, of not doing the same thing.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

dps214 said:

New York Nick said:

Maybe off topic on this but I have asked this question before to friends locally so here we go...

How long is (actually should be) Takata or any other auto manufacturer responsible for something like this? Car's get minimal required maintenance, operate in completely uncontrolled circumstances and can last an undeterminable amount of time. I just googled the topic and the Car and Driver stated on October 5, 2020 that there have been 26 deaths world wide from these airbags. How many lives were saved in the same time period? 

I am all in on no one should be putting a knowingly defective product in the market but how long should it last? In 2090 when someone takes their vintage 1996 Civic to a car show and the air bag explodes are they going to sue Takata then? Do we take legal action against any 1960's vintage car manufacture if we get harpooned by the steering wheel with only a lap belt? 

I'm pretty sure that's one of those things you're better off not thinking about. Not so much whether the manufacturer is responsible, but whether you can really expect an incendiary device to still work as originally designed 20-30+ years later even under the best of conditions.

Remember back when airbags were new (not counting the Oldsmobiles in '74ish) and Mercedes and Volvo had decals in the doors to indicate when the airbags had to be replaced?

 

IIRC they are supposed to be replaced every ten years.

Yep.  There are still a few Volvo running around with stickers suggesting the bags are 20 years past their prime.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I can't say that they were or were not. Was there a requirement for how long they needed to last before catastrophic failure? I know air bags undergo pretty extensive environmental testing. Was that testing non compliant to the regulations? Did they lie about the results?  

1kris06 said:

Mazdax605 said:

Hello all,

 

  We received an air bag recall notice for our sons 04 Pontiac Vibe in the mail the other day. Of course there was no real instructions on what to do. So I just called the local Toyota dealer we bought a few vehicles from, and use for service on a pretty regular basis. I figured why not ask them as it is a Toyota in Pontiac guise. The service guy I got on the phone told me that the Vibe in no way is a Toyota, and that I should call a local GMC dealer. I told him that the Vibe is almost in every way a Toyota, with a Toyota engine, transmission, wiring, etc, but he said that it was not. I got frustrated and hung up.  What do we do? I understand that there is probably no fix yet as they are back ordered, but where do we bring the car when Toyota tells you that the car made by them is not theirs?

He was in every way correct. Honda dealers cannot perform recalls on Acura's no matter how similar the vehicle may be. For the same reason a Toyota dealer would turn you away if you brought a subaru brz in for recall work.

This.