The Car Hub

Second Hand Airbags, Does Your Insurance Cover You?
The motoring world is now waking up to a new potential disaster, second hand airbags in cars which have been involved in accidents may fail to operate and could result in fatalities or injuries which could seriously affect your online car insurance quote.
This situation has not previously arisen but the sudden explosion in the online sale of second hand airbags on the auction site eBAY has caused alarm bells to ring
In the last year sales of airbags on eBAY have doubled to 7,000 per year, the attraction of course is in the price, which seriously undercuts the manufacturers recommended retail price.
As an example from the top end of the car market, an airbag for a Ferrari 355 steering wheel would be, garage fitted, £1,600 + VAT with labour of approx £150 to be added; the eBAY price - £400.
Businesswise there is nothing wrong with trading in second hand items, but in this instance we are talking about vital vehicle safety devices which need to be precision fitted, can this be right?
If someone is applying for an online car insurance quote or renewing a policy, they as the driver, are under an obligation to inform their car insurance company of any changes or modifications to their vehicle, the mere fact their insurance company was not informed of any changes, especially to safety equipment could invalidate their car insurance policy.
At present in the UK there are no regulations regarding the fitting of second hand airbags, in new vehicles new airbags are fitted into new cars following strict installation instructions with the correct tooling, there is no such control over the fitting of second hand airbags.
In Germany they have a law which bans the trade in second hand airbags, why do we mot have the same in the UK?
Oddly enough of all the car manufacturers in the world there are only 5 car manufacturers who make up 50% of the trade in airbags on eBAY and 2 of these are German, VW and BMW: the other 3 are Vauxhall, Renault and Ford.
Anyone considering buying a second hand car finds it can now find it poses more problems than before from the point of view of safety airbags.
It is now the case that if you are considering buying a car that has had damage it is your prerogative to enquire if it has had a replacement airbag and if so, has that airbag been fitted correctly, the onus, from the insurance point of view is on you , the buyer to ascertain this.
At present we have no procedure in the UK for any regulatory authority to check the fitting of second hand airbags, thereby leaving every driver of a second hand car wandering whether his new online car insurance quote will cover him/her if it is proved, following a future accident, that his/her car airbags were faulty, incorrectly fitted or were the wrong type for his vehicle.
We need something to be done very quickly.
Bill Williams