On Valentines Day 2003, Damaras Gatihi died, quite literally, from a broken heart. On a rain swept Interstate 5 in Seattle, Gatihi’s 2003 Toyota Camry was bumped from behind and sent spinning headlong into an oncoming vehicle. The impact crushed the steering column into the chest of the 50-year-old nurse’s assistant, shattering her heart. The airbag system that medical experts later said should have saved her life never deployed. There was no way it could. According to her family, the Seattle lot that sold her the Camry replaced its previously deployed driver-side airbag with nothing more than a piece of plastic when they acquired the vehicle as a wreck.

An isolated incident? For now, perhaps. Gatihi’s death, along with a similar death in California, could be the harbingers for many more to come. Thousands of vehicles with inoperable airbag systems are roaming American roads. In most cases, owners are completely unaware of the danger.

Jim Quiggle, director of communications for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, has been tracking dummy airbag installations for years. In an interview with ABRN, Quiggle says that while exact statistics are difficult to come by, numbers collected by the Insurance Information Institute (III) and other groups point to a widespread and growing scam. Among their findings:

• A survey in Los Angeles turned up 66 fakes in 1,200 vehicles.
• At a California legislative committee meeting, an insurer reported finding 350 claims for cars repaired with fake airbags.
• During Operation Hot Air in 2003, Miami police uncovered thousands of fake airbags. One local business alone reported selling more than 6,000.

Quiggle also points to a burgeoning internet business selling products used to perpetrate airbag frauds. Available items include fake airbag covers and $40 switches that can be attached to the airbag system to make warning lights indicate the system is operable.

Fake installations are a lucrative business. With airbag repairs typically running at least $1,000, due mainly to the high cost of parts, unscrupulous shops stand to make hundreds of dollars by falsifying repairs and simply covering the airbag compartment.

“It’s an invisible crime,” says Quiggle. “Normally, no one is going to find out that they’ve been victimized until after they’ve been in an accident and their bags have haven’t deployed.” So brash are these scam artists, say investigators, in many cases they stuff the compartment with everything from shop rags, packing peanuts to empty cigarette packs.

Now they’re focusing their deceptive art on a more lucrative market—salvages, where they can avoid falling under the aegis of liability and insurance fraud laws.

Larry Gamache, a spokesperson for Carfax.com, says most airbag fraud happens to late model wrecks—400,000 of which currently share American roads, according to Consumer Reports. In most states, selling a vehicle with inoperable airbags is perfectly legal, as long as the buyer is not told the airbags work.

Ironically, airbag repairs are helping to feed this market. The increasing numbers of airbags in vehicles have sent repair costs for many accidents soaring. Insurers say these costs force them to salvage vehicles that otherwise would be repairable. Salvages with major airbag repairs and minor damage elsewhere are prime candidates for airbag scams.

Missouri recently addressed this problem by passing legislation that removes the cost of airbag repairs from salvage calculations. Manufacturers, insurers and states also have started addressing airbag scams since the federal government currently has no laws covering airbag repair.

Steve Nantau, Collision Repairs Supervisor for Ford’s Customer Service Division’s Aftermarket Engineering and Remanufacturing Operations, tells ABRN that Ford began taking steps after insurers suspected that some shops were ordering and returning airbags simply to obtain a new airbag invoice to cover fake repairs. Ford no longer allows such returns. Also, in March, the company implemented a Web site for insurance investigators listing the serial numbers of all purchased Ford airbag components. Ford has invited other manufacturers to take part, though none has yet.

Many manufacturers have taken steps to better manage their airbag acquisition networks, in part, to address airbag crimes. Honda permits its vendors to sell airbags only to Honda businesses. General Motors, Ford and others destroy overstock airbags not used by their manufacturing facilities.

ABRN contacted a California company called Alps Marketing which advertises selling “factory OEM bags at unbeatable prices” from Ford and GM. The Alps’ representative refused to comment when pressed on the source of its airbags.

While states are beginning to address airbag crimes, few have addressed fake airbag scams. To date, only New York, Colorado and Florida outlaw inoperable installations. Florida law makes fake installations a second-degree felony carrying 10-year prison sentences and $10,000 fines. Manslaughter charges can be filed in event of death.

Bob Redding, Washington D.C. representative for the Automotive Service Association (ASA), reports that 13 states have proposed airbag legislation this year.

Quiggle says to be effective states need to take comprehensive steps that address the entire airbag crime spectrum. This includes prosecuting airbag thieves, investigating shop inventories for suspicious air bag inventories, outlawing fake covers and installations and revoking the licenses of shops that do break the law.

Redding declares the federal government is best suited to address these issues since it can pass uniform, effective legislation for all states. Redding and other ASA reps recently took up airbag issues in June with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigations (ODI). Even with these efforts, Quiggle worries about the avoidable injuries and deaths that may happen before legislators pass legislation.

“Before legislators and insurers get involved they’re probably going to need to see a lot of statistics and numbers that will draw them to this problem,” he says. “Unfortunately, they probably won’t be driven to look for those numbers until a high profile accident or death occurs.”

That’s little comfort to the thousands of motorists who right now are entrusting their families’ and friends’ lives to nothing more than oily shop rags and crushed packs of cigarettes.

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Finding the Fakes

When Robert Hughes, owner of The Collision Solution Inc., in South Miami, Fla., spotted the first fake airbag installation to arrive at his shop, he was surprised at three things. One, the customer knew about it, having asked a shop to perform the work after a previous accident. Two, the shop that performed the work obviously set itself up for any number of liability issues. Three, the work was extremely well done. “Whoever did it was a professional. He knew what he was doing,” Hughes says.

Hughes refused to allow the car to be moved off his lot unless the owner signed a waiver. He also refused to do any work on the car unless the owner agreed to have the airbag fixed. In the end, the owner agreed to the repair.

Hughes’s experience illustrates many of the issues repairers face when these vehicles roll into their shop. Spotting fake repairs can be difficult, even for expert technicians. Ford has supplied the following list of diagnostic tips:

Dashboard lights - Make sure the airbag light doesn’t stay on, starts flashing or doesn’t light up. (Remember that switches are available to give false readings.)

Fake airbag covers – Fake covers hide the fact that a new module has not been installed. Fake covers usually don’t feature a vehicle’s logo, sometimes don’t fit well and almost never exactly match the vehicle’s interior color.

Testing – Perhaps the best way to spot fakes. A computer diagnostic determines if the system is operational.

History – For salvaged vehicles, if the history is incomplete or pieces are lost, there’s a good chance someone might be hiding something.

Shops should always make sure the airbags on every vehicle that comes through their doors are checked out by a qualified professional. Shops should make sure they are using a trustworthy repair professional for all their airbag work.