Question for car people

[scfr]

My car is now nearly 10 years old.

The airbag saftey label on my sun visor says that the airbag should be serviced 10 years from manufacture, and then every 2 years thereafter.

This is something I'm not at all familiar with, and I am in a new town where I have not yet located a auto mechanic I can trust to do a good job and not rip me off, so I'm hoping some car experts out there can help me out:

- Is this truly something that needs to be done? Or is the car manufacturer just covering their backside to avoid a lawsuit?

- What does "servicing" an airbag involve?

- What is a reasonable charge for it?

I have heard that having an airbag fixed after it is deployed in an accident is INCREDIBLY expensive, so I figured I better have a bit of knowledge before I started calling auto repair shops.

[Seeker]

My car is now nearly 10 years old.

The airbag saftey label on my sun visor says that the airbag should be serviced 10 years from manufacture, and then every 2 years thereafter.

This is something I'm not at all familiar with, and I am in a new town where I have not yet located a auto mechanic I can trust to do a good job and not rip me off, so I'm hoping some car experts out there can help me out:

- Is this truly something that needs to be done? Or is the car manufacturer just covering their backside to avoid a lawsuit?

- What does "servicing" an airbag involve?

- What is a reasonable charge for it?

I have heard that having an airbag fixed after it is deployed in an accident is INCREDIBLY expensive, so I figured I better have a bit of knowledge before I started calling auto repair shops.

For air bags, I would recommend taking the car to the dealer/manufacturer of your car.

They'd be more familiar with the steps to get to it and the codes in the computer systems to properly diagnose and correct any problems.

[zooracer]

every ten years they need to pump it back up with air.


actually, I have no idea.
I had to disconnect mine when I put a different steering wheel on.

Isnt a seatbelt sufficient anyways?

[click4credit]

Isnt a seatbelt sufficient anyways?

I hope that is a joke! Seatbelts and airbags are not alternatives to each other. You should always have both. Take the car to a branded dealer for your make or car. Probably worth getting done if car is 10 years old. Every two years after that is probably covering themselves..

[responduser]

every ten years they need to pump it back up with air.


actually, I have no idea.
I had to disconnect mine when I put a different steering wheel on.

Isnt a seatbelt sufficient anyways?

In that case, even seatbelt not required.

[bjl584]

I have never heard of an airbag needing to be serviced. While there is always a chance that there could be a mechanical failure, it is highly unlikely. Worst case scenario is that it won't deploy in an accident. The only thing that could need to be checked is the compressed air canistor. That warning label is most likely a legal thing that the car manufacturer puts on there to keep from being sued. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. You'll end up paying a lot of money to the dealer for them to do basically nothing other than a visual inspection.