Next time you buy a used car or go to a car repair shop, will your car have airbags when you drive away?
Lynette Loretto, the mother of three children, lives in an Indian Pueblo in James, New Jersey. M.
I don\'t know the shiny yellow knight she bought from a used Chevrolet Knight
Car dealers are a potential death trap.
Later, when she found out that the car had an accident and there was no airbag, she said it made her skin crawl.
\"I got hysterical,\" Lorito said . \"
\"I drove my daughters several times. . . .
If something happens to us. .
That\'s terrible.
\"A survey in the weekend edition shows that some unscrupulous auto repair shops have hurt consumers by failing to replace airbags deployed in the accident.
The survey also revealed the use-
Car dealers sell cars without airbags.
In some cases, the airbag compartment with beer cans, paper or packed peanuts is stuffed.
Sometimes, the airbag that had a problem was just pushed back.
Sometimes the airbag is not replaced at all, leaving the compartment empty.
Although the number of these victims is unknown, the consequences may be tragic.
On 2003, Laura Vega in Houston was seriously injured and her mother died when their mercury mink was hit in the head. on —
Neither airbag works.
On the passenger side of their vehicle, the used air bag was stuffed back and the lid was taped.
There is no airbag on the driver\'s side.
In the same year, Damaris Gatihi, a month-year-
The old nursing assistant who went to school as a nurse was killed in a car accident in Seattle.
It turns out that the airbag on her used Toyota Corolla was not replaced after a previous accident.
Instead, the dealer who sold her car had cut off the airbag and made a fake cover for the dashboard.
Strange noise and sensor light sloretto thinks she saw the sale of Chevrolet on the side of the road at N. AlbuquerqueM.
Good condition.
Look good from outside.
She said she used it.
The car dealer who sold it to her said it was working fine.
But shortly after Lorito drove the car home, she realized that the car dealer did not mention that it had many mechanical problems.
\"It makes strange sounds and things,\" Loretto recalls . \".
\"The airbag light was turned on.
The dealer told her it was a faulty sensor, she said.
\"It\'s just one thing after another when I get home.
\"Lorito\'s uncle gave the car to a mechanic and he found that there was a serious accident with the car --
The dealer ignores one of the details mentioned.
However, the biggest shock came when they opened the airbag compartment.
The paper was stuffed into the driver\'s side car, which should be the airbag.
On the passenger side, the used air bag has been simply stuffed back inside.
The most commonly used is the hidden silent killer.
Car dealers and auto repair shops properly install new airbags, and experts warn that not all airbags can be trusted.
No one collects data on the number of cases of Airbag Fraud --
Not even the insurance industry.
But on January, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report that reviewed 1,446 fatal accidents and found that in 255 of them, after a previous accident, the airbag was not
A spokesman for the agency said that although NHTSA did not investigate the reasons for their disappearance, officials believe that at least some of these cases involved airbag fraud. We have our own lives. and-
The death scam we have. . .
Just waiting to be discovered, \"said Jim quigel, communications director of the anti-insurance fraud Coalition, a non-profit alliance of insurance companies and consumer groups.
He was frustrated because it was difficult to determine the number of cases of airbag fraud.
\"Unfortunately, until the data bubble comes to the surface, let\'s have a quantitative understanding of what\'s going on, and it\'s always going to be a hidden silent killer,\" quigel said . \".
So why is there no credible statistics to track airbag fraud?
\"The federal government has taken relative weapons-
The length is close, \"quigel said.
\"They were not involved because they kept data on airbag fraud.
\"In addition, he said that accident reports from insurance companies, states and police often do not record enough details to make sense or useful.
\"So you have this data black hole and it\'s hard to find a reason for a problem that can\'t be quantified,\" quigel said . \".
Experts say fraud in insurance funds at repair shops is a major cause of airbag fraud.
\"The Crooked body store has made this scam an insurance plan,\" quigel said . \".
He has seen situations where airbags are removed and replaced with tennis shoes and cigarette packs.
The store then charges the insurance company for the replacement package and the driver will not be protected in the event of a crash.
Greed has fueled fraud, quigel said.
\"What they want most is $3,000 or $4,000 or $2,000 for insurance companies.
This is what they got.
\"There is another situation: a store ordered a new airbag and billed the customer, but never installed it.
Instead, the store will send the airbag back to the manufacturer and receive a full refund.
The scam is hard to spot, quigel said, \"because the lid is sealed in the airbag compartment, no one will be smarter unless you check.
\"Air bags on the black market are also popular goods on the black market.
Insurance fraud experts say thousands of airbags are stolen every year.
On the black market, a new airbag retails for $1,000 to $3,000 and can sell for $50 to $200.
There are thousands of used airbag ads on EBay.
The price starts at $4. 99.
You can also purchase a wide range of components online, including counterfeit airbags, fake airbag covers, and equipment that covers airbag warning lights.
Buying airbags on the Internet has never been a good idea, quigel said.
\"Putting the airbag in is like a neurosurgery operation,\" he said . \"
\"Airbags should be calibrated very carefully according to the manufacture of models and cars. . .
In many cases, even a month.
Quigel warned: \"It is necessary to ensure very, very precisely that the airbag works exactly the same way as the manufacturer\'s expectations,\" so, simply get something from the internet, put it there and say, \'Oops, you\'re safe, \'and that puts your life in your hands.
\"When you repair a car or buy a used car after a crash, making sure you have an airbag should be a top priority,\" he said.
\"Whenever you walk into the car, your family, your children, your own life can be online,\" quigel said . \".
\"You might be driving a car with a grenade with four wheels.