The Office of Defect Investigations had received 29 consumer complaints of airbag light illumination and/or clockspring failure on model years 2007-2008 jeep wrangler. Twenty-three of the 29 complaints specifically identified the airbag clockspring wiring assembly as the source of the issue. The remaining six complaints referenced only the airbag light being illuminated. Among the fourteen owners contacted, six stated that they owned a right hand drive version of the vehicle typically used by postal carriers. Sixteen of the 29 complaints were received since January 1, 2011. A broken electrical circuit in the airbag clockspring wiring assembly can lead to non-deployment of the driver side frontal airbag.  PE11-019.

The front passenger air bag may be turned off when an adult is in the passenger seat. The front passenger air bag is designed to be turned off in limited circumstances including when children and small adults are seated in the front passenger seat, there is a child restraint in that seat, or the seat is not occupied. The vehicle’s occupant classification system (OCS), which classifies the occupant in the front passenger seat, may misclassify an adult passenger as a child or child seat and improperly turn off the passenger side air bag. When the air bag is deactivated, the “passenger air bag off” light will illuminate on the center instrument panel. The passenger side air bag is turned off when the OCS misclassifies an adult passenger. With the front passenger airbag off, the front passenger will not have the protection of the passenger air bags in some frontal collisions, thus increasing the risk of occupant injury.11V-473. EA09-017.

This recall addresses approximately 2,430 air bags that may have been installed as replacement service parts in the event. For example, a covered vehicle had been in a crash necessitating the replacement of the driver’s air bag, and the replacement air bag installed was one that may have contained a defective inflator. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver’s air bag, the inflator could produce excessive internal pressure that could cause the inflator to rupture with metal fragments striking and injuring the driver or other occupants. The safety recall is expected to begin on or about June 27, 2011. 11V-260.

Hyundai first made changes to its production lines to re-route the wiring harness and to increase the space between the inner sill and lower B-pillar trim. Later, based on replacement of seat belt assemblies from consumer’s cars, Hyundai determined that a safety recall should be conducted. The safety recall is expected to begin during February 2010. Hyundai’s recall campaign number is 094. NHTSA recall number 09V-497.

Although side curtain air bags are present in many vehicles today, not all of those are triggered during rollover wrecks.  There are several differences between curtain air bags that deploy only in side crashes and curtain air bags that deploy in rollover crashes.  The rollover-triggered air bags obviously require sensors to detect that a rollover is occuring.  Such rollover sensors were available on nearly 100 models by the 2007 model year.

The rollover air bags also have to stay inflated longer: although side impacts may last less than a second, rollovers can last several seconds.  So, rollover air bags need to stay inflated longer.  This is often accomplished by using a colder gas to inflate the air bag, because colder gas does not leak out as quickly.  The rollover air bag fabric is often coated as well, again to make sure the gas does not leak out as quickly.

Additionally, some of today’s side curtain air bags do not extend to the bottom of the windows; this means that some people, particularly small children, can still be ejected even if the curtain air bag is deployed.  NHTSA anticipates that the rollover curtain air bags required to pass the proposed testing would need to extend downward from the roof to cover the entire window.

Finally, in order to keep the bottom of these curtain air bags in position during the entire rollover impact, it is quite possible that the air bag would need to be tethered (or anchored) near the bottom of the window.  Often, this is accomplished through tethers to the bottom of the pillars that support the roof on sides of the vehicle.

NHTSA estimates that the their proposal would add only about $34 per vehicle, compared to the car companies’ current plans.  That is a small price to pay to save someone’s life or to prevent catastrophic injuries that will last a lifetime.