I was just wondering......if so many cars have had their Takata air bags recalled including 2002-2010 Lexus SC430, are we just lucky that our LS430s from 2001-2006 have never been recalled? What manufacturer did Lexus use for our car's airbags?

 

Good question, I used to hear in my car clubs that you really can't rely on a cars airbag once it reaches 10 years or older wonder if that was still true when the LS 430 was built as the oldest LS430 airbags now 18 years old.

 

I have wondered myself. Most mfgs. incl. Toyota did not take the Takata scandal seriously. Two mfgs who did were Honda and BMW, both of which provided loaners for anyone who wanted one until parts were available. For me this meant a BMW loaner for 4.5 mos. Some over 1 year. MB and Audi's and you could say Toyota was a loaner is not warranted. The worst thing that could happen is death, however, to date, there were no documented cases. Really.

Also made me wonder, if a car is over 9 or 10, wouldn't it be better for the system to be disabled? death isn't a small thing, and people were killed in Hondas.

 

Takata or not.......how well would the mechanism work after so many years? Isn't there gas and high pressure etc? Aren't there any stats on old cars with air bag systems that have deployed? Were they effective? I just can't imagine having my 19 year old air bag getting projected into my face! Even if it was new it's traumatic.

 

Originally I had read in several places that the recommendation was to replace airbags when they were older than 10 years. I think over time the lifespan of airbags has been reconsidered but I haven't seen anything definitive on how long an airbag would be reliable in the case of an accident. I have also not seen or read any news that older cars are having accidents with airbags failing to deploy.
Airbags are basically electrically fired explosive devices. The expanding gas created by explosive charge being ignited is what causes the plastic airbag to inflate.

My guess is that in normal environments car airbags might be reliable for a minimum 20-25 years but that is a semi-educated guess based on zero specialist expertise.

 

The way I see it is through analogies. MB, Audi, Toyota, rolled the dice. They said loaner cars are not warranted as nobody has died. They also disclaim saying continuing to drive your vehicle may result in injury up to and including death. Reminds me of drug ads, where all the actors are happy while a narrator reads the side effects. Honda, people did die. BMW, nobody died. But Honda and BMW provided loaner cars to anyone who wanted one until parts were available, as mentionoed, with BMW this meant more than a year.

There was a guy in Broward County who when called just stood outside, then retired with a $8,900/mo. pension. The guy was a coward his entire career and only now was he brought up criminally, not at the time he stood there doing nothing. He was never tested his entire career. Where am I going. Airbags are the same, never tested, just sit there. Who really knows what will happen 14 years later? People were killed in Hondas. imho it's rolling dice. A better way would be to be able to test and verify without actually deploying. The Takata scandal revealed nobody really knows.