-
The Golden Years
March 21, 2013 | 39 comments
-
Diesel Dilemmas
March 8, 2013 | 26 comments
-
Electric Lemon Aid
February 19, 2013 | 113 comments
-
The New Dart, in Light of the Old
January 11, 2013 | 48 comments
-
Speed Limiters, Too?
December 28, 2012 | 70 comments
Car Guy
The Ticking Time Bomb in Your Dashboard
The high cost of aging air bags.
Air bags — driver and front seat passenger air bags — have been mandatory in cars since the mid-1990s. That means there are now millions of older cars on the road with air bags. These air bags are ticking time bombs, financially speaking (and otherwise; more on that below) because of the ever-less-favorable ratio between the value of the car itself and the cost to repair the car if the air bags go off.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say you own a 2000 model Toyota Corolla. It’s still running great and you hope to be able to drive it for at least another five years — a reasonable expectation given the durability of newer cars. At twelve years old, it still has a lot of useful life left. And because it’s paid-off, you have very low fixed costs, transportation-wise.
But, here’s the catch.
Your 2000 Corolla is only worth about $3,500 or so, retail. But the cost to replace the air bags, if they go off in an accident, will be in the neighborhood of $1,500-$2,000. Which means, even before you take fixing the actual car into account, the projected repair costs have already come dangerously close to the “50 percent of retail value” threshold — at which point, most insurance companies will refuse to fix the car. Instead, it will be “totaled” and you will be given a check for the retail value — usually, a lowball number. Rarely will you receive a check adequate to buy an equivalent vehicle.
The number of cars (and car owners) facing this Hobson’s Choice continues to grow each year, as the fleet ages and the “book value” of older cars drops. It’s a pretty good bet that if your vehicle is worth less than $6,000 it will be totaled by your insurance company if the bags ever deploy. Under $5,000 and it’s a certainty. (A 2002 NHTSA study found that “…nearly all vehicles more than seven years old are scrapped if they are involved in a crash in which their airbag deploys.”)
Current-year cars typically have at least four and in many cases as many as six or even eight air bags. These multi-bag new cars will reach the Event Horizon much earlier since the cost of replacing three or four (or more) air bags will be even higher than the $1,500-$2,000 figure for dealing with just the driver and front seat passenger bags in older cars.
The tragedy is that many of these cars are otherwise repairable. Air bags don’t go off in fender-benders, but it’s not necessary to have a catastrophic wreck for them to deploy, either. The threshold is about 20-25 MPH, which isn’t insignificant but also not enough (in many cases) to cause major structural damage to the car — the kind of damage that in the past would have resulted (reasonably) in a decision to throw the car away. But today, it is routine to find otherwise repairable cars — some that can still even be driven — consigned to the junkyard because of the cost of replacing the air bags. And legally, the bags must be replaced. Even if you fix the folded fenders and the car is otherwise fine to drive, the law requires all factory-fitted (and government mandated) “safety” equipment to be intact and functional. You won’t be able to pass state “safety” inspection and get/renew your government-mandated vehicle registration until the bags are replaced.
It is a tremendous waste — and we all pay for it, though we may not realize we’re paying for it.
We pay, first of all, in the form of higher insurance costs — because the insurance companies quite rationally transfer the losses they incur onto the shoulders of policyholders. Simple cause and effect: If the 2000 model Toyota mentioned above had no air bags, and fixing it after an accident only involved replacing, let’s say, the front clip (bumper, hood, fenders, etc.) at a cost of $2,000 — vs. another $1,500 to $2,000 on top of that for the air bags — then naturally, the owner’s premiums are going to reflect this. Since the imposition of the air bag mandate, average insurance costs have gone up dramatically. In most urban/suburban areas, it is routine for even “good drivers” with no record of at-fault accidents or “points” on their DMV record to be paying $500 or more a year for a full-coverage policy. To put that in perspective, consider the cost of the typical homeowner’s policy. Most people pay about the same to cover their house — an asset several times more valuable than a car, but which has a much lower risk of “total loss” associated with it.
But where we really pay is in the form of loss of the vehicle itself. Of throwing away otherwise fixable cars and being placed in the position of having to buy a usually more expensive replacement.
And with so many aging air bag-equipped vehicles still on the road, it is a cost more and more people are going to be facing in the years ahead.
There’s another cost, too — alluded to in the beginning of this article. Air bags are just like any other system in the car; eventually, the components degrade and develop problems. It’s as inevitable as eventually needing new brake shoes or a power window switch. Own an air bag-equipped car long enough and eventually the air bags are going to have a problem. This is why several automakers list air bag service after “x” number of years. I like to read the owner’s manuals of the new vehicles I test drive each week. That’s how I discovered the warning that (to cite one example) “SRS system must be serviced” at 10 years. In one case, a major car maker specifically recommends replacing the bags (and related sensors, etc.) at 12 years — and you can imagine what that would cost.
But maybe the bags will just go dark and not work. Corrosion, a disconnected wire — either could result in a fault that results in the bag(s) not going off when they should — totaling you instead of the car. Or maybe the bags will just off for no reason at all (leading to the same result, if it happens while you’re driving down the highway at 70 MPH). Hysterical? Exaggeration? Do transmissions in old cars just fail sometimes? Is it unheard of for a tired, high-miles engine to spit a rod through the oil pan? Other car systems degrade and eventually fail in older cars. And so will air bags.
Only the results may be a bit more dramatic — and a lot more expensive.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Frank Drackman| 2.27.12 @ 6:29AM
Are You really Mitt Romney?
Cause who would carry collision insurance on a 2000 Corolla, which is 6 years newer than my American(well Canada IS part of America) Z28...
and we don't have State Inspections in my State, which is a good thing, cause Natalee Holiday's got a better chance of being found than my Catalytic Converter....
Kenny| 2.27.12 @ 6:58AM
Good article.
I learned something from it I never thought of before.
Lynn| 2.28.12 @ 9:25AM
well this makes me feel better about my 20+ yr. old trucks and car. I'm keeping them. Blew the bags on an '03 Ranger so I went back 10 years for replacements; they will see me out I'm hoping...
oldfart| 2.27.12 @ 7:03AM
Mr. Peters I do understand that your analysis is to point out potential, down the road, problems. However, based on history, people have a way of adapting, contrary to the 'big brother' attitude that the average person does not act in their own self interest.
First: You fail to factor in the cost of replacement AND the additional finance/insurance charges associated with that purchase either new or used.
For example: Carmax currently has a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 99K miles for sale in North Attleboro, MA for $ 10,549. The cost to repair you cited with will be about $4,000 for the 2000 Toyota. Even if you borrow the money from a bank on a personal loan to repair the 2000 Toyota the total cost of ownership is significantly less to your average consumer.
The cost to replace with new makes the analysis more outrageous.
Second: Comparing the cost of insurance on a car vs. home owners insurance is like comparing apples to oranges. They are two different animals and the insurance industry evaluates the risk accordingly. After houses are static where a car, which is by nature is a moving like a bumper car the the amusement park.
Third: Your analysis would be valid that is better to replace than fix if we were in a dynamic, growing economy where personal financial risk is low. And where incomes are growing, not shrinking. Right now people are scared for their future. I believe that the latest figures show that less than 50% of the population is employed. The perceived economic situation, right now, is more like 1930 than 1980. During the 1930's the growth industry was in repair, not replacement.
Forth: Your analysis is spot on IF people were taxed like corporations, based on net profit. People are taxed on gross income with a few deductions for capital expenditures, such as home interest (but not home repair) and a minor personal exemption. This tax issue makes the current situation even more favorable for the repair market, not the replacement market. A corporation will want to replace, rather than repair because replacing reduces their tax exposure. With the personal taxes on income, with falling incomes, replacement is the best option from a cash flow perspective.
Thanks for the interesting read.
TrueBlue | 2.27.12 @ 11:31AM
Except that it is usually not up to the owner of the car if they want to replace the vehicle or not. When the insurance company comes back and says the cost of repair is over the cost of the vehicle you have two choices. 1) Let them take the car to the junk heap and hand you a lowballed check for it's value, or 2) Tell them to bugger off and eat the ENTIRE cost of the repair yourself.
I don't know of many repair centers that are willing to let people go on a payment plan to pay for repairs after still allowing them to take it out of their repair facility. They want their payment up front before releasing the vehicle, and most people don't have $4000+ in their bank accounts these days.
I think that is more the problem he is getting at, using the air bags as a lead in to the subject, being that they are one of the highest cost single items in your vehicle.
Brian Mc| 2.27.12 @ 7:06AM
When I hit tat sheet of black ice on I-80 the Gran Sport spun into the plow pack and flipped three times finally coming to rest on the hood. The airbags did not deploy and I walked away with nary a scratch. The vehicle was totalled irregardless. So, I got another. The Passkey II Theft Deterrent System failed one day. The car just decided it wasn't going to start anymore. To say I was pissed would be an understatement. Must have been caused by poor maintenance on my part.
Might be that from now on I will start going to auctions, look for airbags and if the vehicle has none, let the bidding begin. Lights, heater fan, radio works, horn...OK...forget the satnav, power this and remote that. Some standard equipment is just not that necessary and why auto companies fail to see that there are a lot of us who prefer to keep it 'simple' and build accordingly, is beyond my pay grade. Murphey's Law rules the auto industry. And federal regs are it's ugly step-sister.
Another point worth pondering; with structural designs engineered in, why must they leave deployment speeds so low for air bags? The feds must demand Michelin Man suits to ride a bike to stay on par with what they've done to the Auto Industry.
Brian Mc| 2.27.12 @ 7:12AM
My apologies for the mis-type. Changing 'the' to 'that' I deleted the 'h'.
PaulyD| 2.27.12 @ 9:35AM
Brian Mc,
People are already doing this. In Maryland, many buy old "junker" cars and register them as historic vehicles (in Maryland a car becomes "classic" at 20 years of age). The main purpose is to get around Maryland's vehicle emissions testing (historic vehicles are exempt). As a result the Maryland legislature is in the process of amending the rules to define a classic car as 25 years old, and restricting its daily use. But if cars become too mechanically complex, there could still be an advantage of finding and maintaining an old clunker for use as a daily driver if it can pass the Maryland emissions test. Which is a big "if."
But I would not be surprised if in other states where the emissions testing is not as rigorously enforced, it would become financially viable simply to maintain an old car.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 2.27.12 @ 11:10AM
The Md. emissions test is a joke. I don't think you will fail it unless there is a check engine light on. I've observed cars putting out smoke pass.
Brian Mc| 2.27.12 @ 1:40PM
Years ago, working at a luxury used car lot in Cockeysville, it was my responsibility to ensure every vehicle got it's emissions paperwork. I was amazed at times at which vehicle passed and which ones failed. Got to drive some awesome vehicles on the Baltimore Beltway; man, those were some good times! My favorite? M5
TrueBlue | 2.27.12 @ 11:34AM
Auto companies don't fail to see that there are people preferring simple cars, they LIKE the way things are now with the government enforced airbags and all the other options. It forces people to buy new cars more often.
There's a reason (beyond the coolness factor) you still see 50-60s era cars on the road. They keep on running as long as you take care of them, of which the cost is MUCH less than most modern cars.
oldfart| 2.27.12 @ 7:28AM
Forgot to comment on your next to last paragraph. Regular maintenance will discover those issues. If someone is dumb enough to not have a professional look over their car then that is going to happen - blow transmissions, dropped rods, frozen lifters etc.
Modern cars are NOT a Model T where anyone with average mechanical skills could maintain the car.
However, compared to the cost of a new vehicle popping a Jasper engine in a car is very affordable.
Mike Rogers | 2.27.12 @ 8:08AM
Sounds like the safest approach for owners of older cars is to systematically disable all their airbags so that they cannot go off. I wear seatbelts at all times, so I'm not at risk of going through the windshield, and would rather take my chances with a good seatbelt and a padded dash/steering wheel.
So, just kill the bags before they kill you - is the inspection station going to trigger them to see if they work? (of course, the circuits may need to be faked out to avoid warnings.)
Advocating breaking the law? No. Advocating preserving:
A) my life against aging airbags that the government mandated, but won't pay to replace.
B) my property (the car) against unreasonable seizure (eg forced scrapping).
Red Bubba| 2.27.12 @ 8:33AM
Change the law. A guy can ride a motorcycle, but my car is not "safe" without airbags? Absurd.
oldfart| 2.27.12 @ 10:16AM
Dont get too glib about motorcycles. The next thing will be training wheels. LOL
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 2.27.12 @ 10:18AM
Exactly Red-B!! And with the price of gas going up, more Folks are going to be forced to ride motorcycles just to make it to work, to have some money left over at the end of the week to buy some food to eat. But as long as we're safe in our older cars, with our airbags that will completely total our cars if they deploy, that's all that matters to them, bikers be damned!! Let those bikers learn to do a proper PLF, or learn how to bounce a bit better!! There's got to be a cutoff in respect to the age of a car requiring it to continue to have airbags, that would allow it to stay on the road without working airbags. This is just as stupid as Cash-For-Clunkers was, to remove perfectly good used cars from the road, due to the fact that it's not economically viable to replace the airbags anymore!! Thus taking more used cars off the road, and raising the prices of the remaining used cars for sale, due to supply and demand. I swear, the Government will not be happy, until we're all driving Government Motor Volts!!
JimH| 2.27.12 @ 8:44AM
I was in a collision in a late model Camry where the air bag deployed. It may have helped. I don’t know. I did have my seat seatbelt on so I can’t tell how much the airbag contributed to the fact that I was uninjured. A coworker in a similar accident got some cracked ribs, apparently from the airbag. Apocryphal evidence seems to indicate that they cause as much harm as good. The deployment did, as your article says contribute to the insurance companies decision to write off the car. Another issue not mentioned by you that I have read of, is that even if the car is totaled as far as the insurance company, it may be sold to disreputable repair shops which do not replace the airbags.
Dick Nome| 2.27.12 @ 9:16AM
Interesting how we are bitching about airbags today and we were bemoaning the wearing of seatbelts about 2 weeks ago. Some people are never happy. I prefer the seatbelt. I don't know if airbags are effective and fortunately have never been involved in anything that deployed one.
Mr. LeMans| 2.28.12 @ 4:53PM
Hmmmm.
My 1999 chrysler 300M (in pristine condition) got hit in the side rear in a hit n run. Broken coil spring mount, tire ruined, brake caliper, gas filler neck, paint, etc..... $3500 damage to a car with 68K miles after 11 years. Ins Co totaled it for $3800. I bought it back from them fro $500. Got a local mechanic (not the dealer) to repair it and had Maaco paint it. They did a great job. I'll keep this car for many years. Oh, btw, had the mechanic take out the "black box" while he was at it. My main daily car is a 1994 Caddy. Beautiful. 58K miles. Paid $2690 for it at auction. That's about five and half months of lease payments my neighbor makes on his Acura.
I can pay for lots of repairs and still spend less than what a cheap Hundai costs and drive a 19 foot long dream.
Of course, the '65 LeMans is still the best. Drum brakes all around, single cylinder brake system, one speed wipers. AM radio with vibrasonic sound. It has all the latest safety features of the day: front seat belts and a thin padded edge along the front of the dashboard. 360,000 miles and still going strong..........
Gr0w1er601| 2.27.12 @ 10:14AM
If airbags were the safety panacea that NTSB and DOT say they are, why don't NASCAR, F1, Indy Cars, DTM and every other racing body make them mandatory safety gear in their cars? Those racing drivers encounter much higher speeds, much more close quarter situations than the average driver would ever experience in a lifetime on a public roadway. I say if the racing world doesn't need it, we sure as hell don't.
oldfart| 2.27.12 @ 10:22AM
True, but NASCAR are professional drivers, not the typical commuter, talking on the cell, applying makeup/or shaving, taking notes on a yellow pad etc.
Also some of the commuting public drive like they are at Daytona with the skills of a 16 year old on a learners permit.
Big big difference in skill level.
Gr0w1er601| 2.27.12 @ 6:59PM
Knowing the abysmally low skill level around me, I'll take my 5-point tie-down harness and all-around roll cage over any Federally mandated 'air-head bag' every time.
RJ| 2.27.12 @ 10:58AM
One of the silliest things I have seen regarding our government's "protective" actions for our safety is the warning label on the sun visors for the front seats. Effectively it states: Warning, the federally required airbags, deemed safety equipment, can kill. Short people and children should not sit here.
Kingofthenet| 2.27.12 @ 11:46AM
This has got to be one of the STUPIDEST columns I have EVER read, on what piece of equipment that you know of can you remove and NOT replace required safety equipment? The author also fails to realize that 2000 Toyota that just had an air bag deployment, most likely saved your life. Let's take it a step further, many cars come with advanced very expensive headlights today, if they fail do you actually think you can replace them with one from a 78 Buick? How about the emissions control equipment, they are VERY expensive, just rip the CAT out and go with straight pipes? and same for the ALS brakes?
echo mike| 2.27.12 @ 12:52PM
King you can remove the safety equipment on a lot of stuff and it will still work just fine. for instance the trucks used in the military alot of people would turn the fire supresion system off cause the damn thing would go off if some one lit a cigarette in the truck. You try driving through mine fields stuck in the same damn truck day in and out for days and weeks on end and not smoke in one.
Also you can pull cats off very easy. you can over ride the damn safety bubble on fork lifts and cranes that wont let you drive on over any ground that's not perfectly flat and level. You can cut the ground of electrical cords. You can even pull the dont remove sticker off of furniture you own, its not going to hurt you. You could even be braver and burn it with a lighter that had the safety cover taken off of it. Safety is only relative and an illusion.
Also since you seem to be so safety conscious could you give me a good reason why when im on the top of a building with nothing above me OSHA mandates that i wear a hard hat. Even thought theres nothing above me. And dont say its for safety.
Cloudbuster | 2.27.12 @ 2:16PM
Pfft. My wife and adult daughter were in a low-speed crash a while back and both front airbags deployed. Both had their seatbelts on and would have been totally uninjured except for the stupid airbags. My daughter, the passenger, suffered black eyes, facial lacerations and nearly got her nose broken by the airbag. Fortunately we live in a state without regular inspections and just duct-taped the holes shut and never got the damn things replaced.
I think a previous poster's idea of disabling them is excellent. The passenger airbag on my pickup has a key to disable it, and I keep it disabled. I ought to figure out how to disable the driver side airbag, too.
fwb| 2.27.12 @ 12:53PM
What the hell did we do for ALL those years before nosy, useless busy-bodies forced crap like airbags on us?
The air bag in my daughter's 2010 Camaro went off AFTER the accident and the car came to a stop. This caused bruising and injuries to her chin and back of her head.
Whiny, crybabies who want the government to provide for their safety are why we are in the trouble we are in.
This is why I drive my old 60s and 70 cars. No crap. No freaking regulations. Suck that gas cause I want to.
Kingofthenet| 2.27.12 @ 2:28PM
I seriously doubt your daughters airbag went off AFTER a crash, people in crashes frequently are disoriented and are unaware of what actually happened and in what order.
oldfart| 2.27.12 @ 2:44PM
I have heard of delayed deployment as well. Again a sensor issue.
Systems Engineer| 2.27.12 @ 12:57PM
I thought from the title the author was going to address the problem of the aging ammonium nitrate based solid propellant that burns and generates the gas used to inflate the airbag. AN based propellants don't age particularly well and the industry is starting to see recalls due to the airbag gas generators fragmenting during deployment in an accident.
Harold Hoelzer| 2.27.12 @ 1:17PM
Very interesting,,, and understandable,,,,,but, do we who live on a fixed income have any alternative,? I'm in exactly that position,, so ,,, why the article, if there's nothing to be done,,,,, I know the gov. has been putting the screws to us,,, but what cah be done about this particular situation......................
Lgbpop| 2.29.12 @ 8:41PM
Stop fvoting Democrat and liberal. While it may not improve things 100% it;s a good start. After all, voting Dem and liberal for the past 80 years is what got us to this point.
Bobc| 2.27.12 @ 2:34PM
What if some drunk runs a stop sign and T-bones my older car? He's liable. I sue him for my costs to restore the status ante. I don't care what his insurance co. might think. And, if he's insured, my insurance co. need not be involved. Where am I wrong here?
Kingofthenet| 2.27.12 @ 7:52PM
You can't sue to get your car back to the way it was, that's the WHOLE IDEA of totaling a car. In fact NO ONE EVER has to make you whole, just pay for what is broken.If your had you mothers Dresden sculpture and I smashed it, I don't have to search the ends of the world to find one just like it, just give you the $$$ it's worth.
John Leake| 2.27.12 @ 6:49PM
I agree with your analysis, as far as you have taken it. However I believe your analysis really should look at what I think is far more a factor: The basic wiring harness. Modern cars have an Achilles heel, in that the basic function of the whole system is dependent upon the wiring harness being intact, and having the same resistance per circuit that it had new. Most senors such as O2 sensors work off of an analogue resistance sensor that returns a value in resistance to the ECU. If the wiring is chafed, corroded or otherwise compromised, then the vehicle does not function correctly.
Wiring in cars in the interior is hostile for wiring, worse than military specifications. For components subject to engine heat it is worse.
Additional examples that mirror your airbag cost are antilock brake systems (master cylinder and wheel sensors), the emissions control catalytic converters (not just one on many new cars), and the power management modules.
Worse yet, the car manufacturers are not carrying spare parts as long as they used to.... so the situation is compounded. Many parts for 10 year old cars are just not available any longer.
Frank Drackman| 2.28.12 @ 6:49AM
Tell me bout it'
went to replace the wiper blades on my 95' Camaro, thought there must be a mistake cause the little nifty electronic gizmo at the National AutoParts Chain said they didn't carry em...
Ended up buying same part for a 99 Camaro, doesn't fit exactly, had to N-word Rig it, and there's an area it doesn't wipe...
finally went on e-bay a few weeks later, and bought my first ever pair of USED wiper blades...
Frank
POST American| 2.28.12 @ 10:54PM
------------TAVISTOCK soft programming-----------
------------subtexting for D-moralization-------------
---------------------RED ALERT!-------------------------
---GUESS who's the 'costly' aging AIR BAG
being referenced?
Look in the mirror.
GUESS AGAIN.
--------------HUAC/ NUREMBERG 2012-------------
Lgbpop| 2.29.12 @ 8:44PM
Being a decent amateur mechanic, having worked on my own Taurus wagon for 15 years, and knowing my way around the vehicle - I just disconnected my steering-wheel airbag and rigged up a bypass connector. Didn't take long at all, and after all it's MY car.
Miles Jones| 3.14.12 @ 1:00PM
Really good reporting on this article and many others. Keep it up!