Airbags

[Greg H]

Has anyone else here noticed a trend within the last year or so on airbags?

I can sell a body shop a hood, 2 fenders, rad supt, bumper, rad, cond, and half the accessories for the engine (alt, a/c comp, etc), yet when I ask "Do you need airbags", the answer is always "They didnt go off"...

I cant belive it, but besides making a trip to the body shop (much too busy to do that), I have no way to verify it. This isnt just one or two shops, its all of them, it seems.

Even body shops that I am on real good terms with wont tell me anything. I belive they must be getting them used or black market. I havent sold an single airbag (except for seat/side airbags) in almost 18 months.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this lately? Does anyone know if there are any laws pertaining to using used airbags?

Thanks,

Greg
Parts Manager
Porsche/Audi/Olds/Suzuki Of Wallingford, CT.

[DMuller]

Hi Greg,

Over the years I've received flyers from a number of venders supplying aftermarket air bags. The prices from these venders are quite a bit less than what we can buy them for. So in that light, you can assume that the insurance companies are dictating where your body shops buy their air bags.

[Chris]

I've heard roumers from a number of locations that EMPTY air bags are available from a source in Florida.

We try to remind our wholesale shops that we'd hate to see them get into a situation if they used an after market, used, or empty airbag and the customer had a serious front end visit with foriegn object.

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C. Bledsoe
Pts Mgr
Pulliam Ford
sysop@clynx.com