Repairers in Maryland should oppose a bill intended to protect consumers from airbag fraud because it could do much greater harm by allowing the use of salvaged airbags in repaired vehicles, according to the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association (WMABA).
Despite strong opposition from repairer organizations to a model airbag bill at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), an amended bill was passed for use in individual states. The bill, intended to provide a documentation process for the use of new and salvaged airbags to protect consumers from airbag fraud, is now being proposed in Maryland.
However, this bill will harm consumers in many other ways and repairers should oppose it, WMABA said.
Senate Bill 209, proposed by Sen. Delores Kelley (D), is being touted as a consumer protection bill. A hearing for this bill will take place at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 on the third floor of the Miller Senate Building in Annapolis. Kelley is not on the NCOIL committee, nor was she a part of the discussions surrounding the model bill.
Every repairer in Maryland should oppose this bill because it opens the door for processes to have insurers use salvage airbags, according to WMABA. WMABA said there is no viable data for the safety of the airbag usage for consumers and their families because there is no way of knowing the integrity of the vehicle it was removed from, the way it was stored, or the removal and subsequent delivery process. Additionally, there are no vehicle manufacturers who endorse the use of salvaged airbags, and some say their use could cause injury or death. Therefore, repairers have no way of guaranteeing the crashworthiness of the salvaged airbag and open themselves up for liability, the organization said.
"Salvaged airbags can come from any vehicle, but they are most likely to be removed from a vehicle that has been already total lossed by an insurance company for any reason from collision or fire to flood," says Brad Whiteford of Whiteford's Collision and WMABA president. "As a repairer, we cannot accept the liability of the salvaged airbag not performing to OEM specifications in a subsequent crash."
"This bill was opposed by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) during the NCOIL hearings because they feel that this language will open the state regulation for giving a process to use salvaged airbags," says Jordan Hendler, executive director for WMABA. "The collision repair industry does not use these airbags, and if this language is accepted it will give incentive for their use by insurers. At minimum, the consumer who chooses not to use them for safety concerns could then have additional out-of-pocket expenses for using a new OEM airbag instead of the salvage, where currently they do not. The possible unintended consequences of this bill for Maryland shops and consumers are horrendous."
For information regarding this bill, contact the WMABA administration office at (804) 789-9649 or visit www.wmaba.com.
