By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Car
owners whose air bags have been replaced in the past three years may
have had dangerous counterfeit bags installed, the Obama administration
warned Wednesday.
Only 0.1 percent of the
U.S. vehicle fleet is believed to be affected, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement. But industry
officials briefed by the government said tens of thousands of car owners
may be driving vehicles with counterfeit air bags. NHTSA testing has
shown most of the counterfeit bags don't inflate or fail to inflate
properly. In at least one case, a counterfeit bag fired shards of metal
shrapnel on impact, the agency said.
NHTSA is asking car owners
to check a government website, www.Safercar.gov, for information on how
to contact a call center established by auto manufacturers to learn if
their vehicle model is among those for which counterfeit air bags are
known to have been made.
No deaths or injuries have
been tied to the counterfeit bags, NHTSA said. But it's unclear whether
police accident investigators would be able to identify a counterfeit
bag from a genuine one, industry officials said.
NHTSA has compiled a list
of dozens of vehicle makes and models for which counterfeit air bags may
be available, but the agency cautioned that the full scope of the
problem isn't clear yet and the list is expected to "evolve over time."
If a car is on the list and
has had its air bags replaced during the past three years by a repair
shop other than a new car dealership, NHTSA is asking owners to bring
the vehicle into a dealership to be inspected at their own expense to
determine whether the replaced air bags are counterfeit. Fees for
checking out air bags could run $100 or more, industry officials said.
Some types of cars have as many as eight air bags.
The counterfeit bags
typically have been made to look like air bags made by automakers and
usually include a manufacturer's logo. Government investigators believe
many of the bags come from China, an industry official said.
The bags are marketed to
auto body shops as the real deal, industry officials said. Auto
dealerships that operate their own body shops are usually required by
their franchise agreements to buy their parts, including air bags,
directly from automakers and therefore are unlikely to have installed
counterfeit bags, industry officials said.
But only 37 percent of auto
dealers have their own body shops, according to information on the
National Association of Automobile Dealers' website. Many consumers
whose vehicles have been damaged are referred by their insurance
companies to auto body shops that aren't affiliated with an automaker.
Consumers who bought
replacement air bags online or who have purchased a used car that may
have its airbags replaced in the past three years were also asked to
check NHTSA's list.
Counterfeiting of a wide
variety of auto parts has long been a well-known problem, industry
officials said. But recent incidents have escalated concern by
government officials. In August, federal agents confiscated nearly 1,600
counterfeit air bags and arrested a North Carolina auto mechanic,
according to a report by the Charlotte Observer. The mechanic was tied
by federal officials to another counterfeit air bag case last year in
Tennessee, the report said.
Last February, Dai
Zhensong, a Chinese citizen, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal
court in Chattanooga, Tenn., to 37 months in prison for trafficking in
counterfeit air bags, according to a statement made at the time by the
U.S. Attorney's Office.
Zhensong was a part owner
and manager of the international department of Guangzhou Auto Parts,
which made a variety of auto parts, many of which were counterfeit, the
statement said. In 2010, he traveled from China to Chattanooga to sell
additional counterfeit air bags and other auto parts. The counterfeit
air bags were manufactured by purchasing genuine auto air bags that were
torn down and used to make molds to produce the counterfeit bags.
Trademark emblems were purchased through Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW and
other dealerships located in China and affixed to the counterfeit air
bags. The air bags were advertised on the Guangzhou Auto Parts website
and sold for approximately $50 to $70 each, far below the value of an
authentic air bag, the statement said.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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