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Letter to the Editor

Airbag Testing Technology (ATT) Comments on NHTSA Concerns With Recycled Airbags

The following press release is the response of ATT's Peter Byrne to the NHTSA position on used airbags:

Lakewood, NY -- With the dramatic rise in airbag installations in passenger vehicles over the past decade, there is a corresponding need for accurate and reliable information in relation to these important safety devices. Regulators, car insurers, collision repair shops and car owners all need to be aware of the fundamentals surrounding this important safety technology. Vehicle OEM's, airbag manufacturers, and specialist engineering companies such as Airbag Testing Technology (ATT) all have a role to play in disseminating information to the collision repair industry and to the consumer. The Federal government through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has an especially important role.

A recent NHTSA response to a question from an individual (Ms. Melba Collins) in Little Rock, Arkansas, concerning the use of a recycled airbag, addresses mostly legal concerns, but also touched on some technical issues. The NHTSA letter (part of the public record) was a response to Ms. Collins who had questions relating to the legality and reliability of a recycled airbag which had been installed in her vehicle during a recent repair. The letter, authored by Frank Seales Esq., Chief Counsel, makes statements regarding recycled airbags which ATT believes to be incorrect and misleading.

Specifically, Mr. Seales says that, "An airbag may be rendered inoperable, for example, by damage in a low speed crash, even if it has not been deployed".

"This is simply not accurate," says Peter Byrne, President of ATT. "There is no data to support this statement," he adds. By design, airbags are engineered to withstand significant shocks. During development airbags are subjected to drop tests which expose the unit to shocks greater than the unit will see in a low speed collision. This is to ensure that they will perform properly in the event of a crash.

"If what Mr. Seales said were true, then every vehicle on the road which has been involved in a minor crash in which the airbag has not deployed, may have to have its airbags replaced," adds Byrne. "The safety and cost consequences of this would be enormous. If NHTSA is aware of such damage mechanism details, it should make this known for public scrutiny and correction," concludes Byrne.

If there were any possibility that the airbag would be rendered inoperable by a low speed crash, car manufacturers would require that the airbags be replaced after such low speed collisions. No such procedure or practice exists.

Mr. Seales' letter also says that "the use of a salvaged airbag raises additional safety issues". ATT disputes this statement, saying there is no data to support it.

A series of controlled tests conducted by Airbag Testing Technology has addressed the question of recycled airbag performance and their reliability. ATT's testing directly compared brand new OE airbags against a randomly chosen population of undeployed, recycled airbag modules (of identical type). The results of this testing showed that the performance of the recycled airbag was statistically equivalent to the new product. Summary copies of the ATT testing results may be viewed or downloaded at the company's web site www.airbagtesting.com.

Testing on recycled airbags conducted by other organizations such as the Automobile Recyclers Association (ARA), and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) have all shown similar results, further strengthening the case that undeployed recycled OE airbags are a safe alternative to new OE replacement parts. Reinforcing the above testing is field experience in Canada and the USA, where undeployed recycled airbags have been successfully used in car repairs for nearly 10 years. This includes both insurance repairs, and large numbers of private repairs. Auto recyclers have sold hundreds of thousands of such units to repair shops in the past with no known problems.

Recycled OE airbags, tested individually by ATT, are known as Re-Certified Airbag Modules, or RAM. Certified to perform as new, RAM offers additional reassurance, enabling car insurers, body shops and consumers to use recycled airbags with absolute confidence.

Airbag Testing Technology Inc. (ATT) is a privately held company that has developed proprietary technology (patents pending) to scientifically test and re-certify recycled, automotive original equipment (OE) airbags. ATT's technology enables undeployed, OE airbags to be tested non-destructively, ensuring they meet the manufacturer's original specifications and therefore are safe to install in collision repair vehicles.

A re-certified airbag module (RAM) offers significant benefits to consumers and to the collision repair industry. RAM delivers the performance assurance essential to a safety-critical part and offers significant savings vs. new service parts (in this case, new airbags). The introduction of RAM to the collision repair market increases choice - and offers cost savings of up to 40 percent vs. new airbags - while ensuring the safety of the component. ATT markets its testing services primarily to automotive vehicle dismantlers. ATT is based in Lakewood NY (USA) with offices in Cork, Ireland. The company web site is www.airbagtesting.com.

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