Front passenger airbag recall

[StuieG]

Originally Posted by OzRick25

geez that video looks like a little anti personnel mine going off, might be more than the front passenger that should be worried.

I thought exactly the same thing. As you can see in that video, the 2 sides of the inflator assembly explode into hundreds of hot, flying pieces of metal, who knows what trajectory they will take!

I might call the ACCC and tell them I have spoken to Jeep Australia and they cannot provide me a date for replacement, see what they say?

[rjl3175]

Many cars are having the air bag replaced with the exact same unit, will need to be done again.
To put things in perspective you are more likely to die in your own shower. Many times more likely to die falling off a ladder. More likely to be hit by lightning. More likely to be killed by a family member.

[StuieG]

Originally Posted by rjl3175

Many cars are having the air bag replaced with the exact same unit, will need to be done again.
To put things in perspective you are more likely to die in your own shower. Many times more likely to die falling off a ladder. More likely to be hit by lightning. More likely to be killed by a family member.

But do you really want to take that risk?

Our media guy at work has just reported to us that there's a group of angry car owners gone to the ACCC for class action and are demanding a buy-back if the manufacturer can't resolve the issue in a sensible time.

That'd be awkward if it comes full-circle

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by rjl3175

... More likely to be killed by a family member.

Especially if they just survived injuries from a defective air bag going off in their face!

Oh, I agree, really, on the chances, but I have survived 22 years riding motorbikes commuting to from work upto 100km each way, daily. But I didn't manage that by taking unnecessary risks. I only took the ones I chose to take, and precausions against the unnecessary ones.

Dodgy airbags come under the Unnecessary Risks column, in my book.

[mick666]

If you hit an immovable object like a tree at 60 ks in a 4x4 on a chassis with bugger all crumple zones you will want that nasty Taketa airbag to go off..

And all this is trivial compared to what will happen with self driving cars and electronic gremlins.. Tesla has already killed people..

[rjl3175]

The air bag is still more likely to save your life than cause your death. It "apparently" only affects the air bag after 5 or 6 years. And don't forget you still have to be involved in a rather serious crash to set the bag off.
Complaining that Jeep are not doing enough when this affects most manufacturers and there is a world wide shortage of replacements is a bit childish. Mazda and Honda and others are putting the exact same air bag in knowing they will have to do it again. Another problem is that the manufacturer of the air bags has filed for bankruptcy.
More likely to die of a bee or wasp sting.

[OzRick25]

Not sure where your pulling the statistics? I certainly cant find data that indicates how many out of a particular sample of passenger vehicles are involved in an accident that deploys frontal airbags to then compare that percentage against the estimated 7 million recalled vehicles and contrast this with the 202 known serious injuries or deaths to eatablish a baseline quantification of the risk.
I'm not in the prime age demogrphic of dying in the shower when I am ill probably take a bath. I am however in the prime age and gender demographic of serious vehicle accidents. I also have a 10 year old Jeep, that has spent most of its life either right next to the coast in a humid environment or traveling on dust or dirt both of which increase the risk.
The automotive industry has known about these potential issues for 4 years and FCA has only decided to act in the last 6 months and that action is apparently to do nothing but issue a recall with no suggested mitigation. The recall contains no advice as to the risk likelihood or measures that can be undertaken to reduce or mitigate the risk whilst they engineer out the problem. FCA also have no estimate of when a replacement part may be available.
If I think there is going to be lightning I stay inside, so by that theory I guess I should not be driving my car, for how long do I expect to be without my car?
I would not call complaining childish. I would call the entire Industries (including FCA's) responce to the problem as substandard particularly from an engineering and risk management practice perspective.