Takata airbag recall now includes 2005-2008 Legacy and Outback

Be careful when working around these death bags, looks like a man was killed while working on a 2001 accord and the airbag exploded

 

http://jalopnik.com/man-killed-by-takata-airbag-while-working-on-a-honda-1796810807?

 

Over dramatic much? Dude followed none of the safety protocol for working on an airbag and may not have died as any result of shrapnel.

 

Over dramatic much? Dude followed none of the safety protocol for working on an airbag and may not have died as any result of shrapnel.

 

 

Read it again, dude was not working on airbag. Probably was beating out sheet metal to fit a radio or gauges. When doing a 6 speed retrofit on my Nissan I had to do a lot of cutting and beating with the hammer under the center console myself.

 

His only real mistake was having the battery connected. I'm guilty of listening to my radio while working on interior bits myself.

Dude was still hammering on something while in front of the airbag. It's still not clear if he was injured by shrapnel, or injured because "head was immediately next to inflating airbag"

 

If the airbag had been replaced, he might still be just as dead.

My concern is them messing around with my gauges doing the passenger air bag

 

Yeah I had gauges in the cubby that I forgot about. Dealer wanted to charge me $125 to remove and reinstall them. I drove the car back home and took them out myself.

Dude was still hammering on something while in front of the airbag. It's still not clear if he was injured by shrapnel, or injured because "head was immediately next to inflating airbag"

 

If the airbag had been replaced, he might still be just as dead.

 

Once again re-read it, he was hammering next to a sensor and not airbag, I bet most people don't know what a sensor looks like. At first I thought he was an idiot too, thinking exactly what you thought, until I read it again and now I'm convinced he's just a regular car guy that got the short end of the stick.

 

As for proximity to the airbag, if your working on the radio center console, your right next to the airbag all the time, be it in passenger or driver seat. I personally never considered that the airbag sensor might recognize hammering shocks as a crash, thus wont be doing that with keys in the ignition anymore.

Try again chief...

 

"Honda says the individual died the following day from his injuries, though it’s not obvious if the shrapnel resulting from the ruptured inflator was the cause of death or if the “interaction of the hammer with the deploying airbag” was the culprit. It’s worth noting that The Associated Press cites Honda spokesperson Chris Martin, who said “The rupture most likely contributed to his death.”

 

Hammer couldn't have interacted with deploying airbag if he was hammering near/on a sensor.

Try again chief...

 

"Honda says the individual died the following day from his injuries, though it’s not obvious if the shrapnel resulting from the ruptured inflator was the cause of death or if the “interaction of the hammer with the deploying airbag” was the culprit. It’s worth noting that The Associated Press cites Honda spokesperson Chris Martin, who said “The rupture most likely contributed to his death.”

 

Hammer couldn't have interacted with deploying airbag if he was hammering near/on a sensor.

 

I blame Japolnik for not being clear enough. That quote makes it sound like he was literally hammering the airbag. If you follow their source link to the AP article it goes into more detail.

 

The car's ignition switch was on, so the air bag would have been ready in case of a crash. But it's not clear why the air bag deployed, the company said. Police photos show the metal inflator ruptured and shot out fragments in Hialeah, Florida, near Miami.

 

"The rupture most likely contributed to his death," Honda spokesman Chris Martin said.

....

 

Martin says the man had taken apart the car's center console, although it's not exactly clear what he was working on. Martin noted that there is a deceleration sensor that activates the air bags mounted on the wall between the engine and passenger compartment.

 

Nowhere in the AP article does it mention hammer hitting him, but they mention shrapnel spewing multiple times. I think what Japolnik meant by "interaction of the hammer with the deploying airbag”, is hammer triggered it, not he hit the airbag with the hammer.

man whenever I work on my car I always remove the negative terminal and wrap it in a non conductive piece of electrical tape...

 

even then you are supposed to wait 15 or so minutes to ensure all circuits are dead

I blame Japolnik for not being clear enough. That quote makes it sound like he was literally hammering the airbag. If you follow their source link to the AP article it goes into more detail.

 

 

 

Nowhere in the AP article does it mention hammer hitting him, but they mention shrapnel spewing multiple times. I think what Japolnik meant by "interaction of the hammer with the deploying airbag”, is hammer triggered it, not he hit the airbag with the hammer.

 

Thank you for the clarification with the better source.

 

It doesn't change my opinion that this is largely overblown fear mongering. Because there's nothing American loves more than to be outraged and afraid.

My airbags were recalled in my 2005 Subaru Legacy GT. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time when I found out about it, they put my parts of back order for 11 MONTHS.. I was not happy, no one could sit in the passenger seat due to the fact that if an accident were to occur, metal shards could have been deployed from the airbag. Having full insurance on my vehicle Subaru refused to push me ahead AND refused to give me a loner car while I couldn't drive the only vehicle I had. Not to mention, they forgot my driver side airbag "supposedly" and I had to wait an additional five months. Lesson learned for them I suppose. It was not Subaru alone, chevy, Honda, and many other companies were affected too. Sad stuff.

 

 

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Not to mention, they forgot my driver side airbag "supposedly" and I had to wait an additional five months.

 

Since when were the driver side airbags included in this recall? At least on the Legacy...

aleciadrum888, I was in similar dilemma (with pregnant wife). I pulled the air bag fuse for about a year, so that my wife wouldn't have to ride in the back seat (which is much more painful to get in an out of on these cards due to frameless doors).

 

Since when were the driver side airbags included in this recall? At least on the Legacy...

 

It's not, I haven't seen any updates for my 05.

I made a switch to fool the occupant detection system into thinking the seat is either occupied or empty - allowing the user to have the passenger airbag armed or disarmed. This was done to prevent the airbag light with aftermarket seats, but it has the added benefit of disabling the bad airbag until I decide what to do with it.

So there is no one set procedure how they replace the bag? Via the cubby or by lifting the dash? I'd prefer if they don't mess with the dash.

 

Going to Subaru Wakefield next week for the recall work. Any experiences with them by a chance? Dread going to stealerships, the car has not seen one for 9 years, the other even longer.

I had mine replaced a couple weeks ago. I see no evidence of them removing the dash.

 

Dust wasn't even disturbed on the top of the dash. Only evidence that anything was done at all is that the tech left a trim removal tool in the glovebox. Yes, I returned it...ha ha. I already have one.

 

Had my air pump relay recall done at the same time.

 

What dealership that was in CT?

So there is no one set procedure how they replace the bag? Via the cubby or by lifting the dash? I'd prefer if they don't mess with the dash.

 

Going to Subaru Wakefield next week for the recall work. Any experiences with them by a chance? Dread going to stealerships, the car has not seen one for 9 years, the other even longer.

 

They did mine down here in Orlando a couple weeks ago. They went through the cubby solely.

Buddy of mine works at Subaru now, he said they don't replace the airbags, only the infiltrators. Which means they go through the glovebox without removing the dash, this also explains why my airbag serial numbers looked the same.

Here is the official procedure:

 

https://subaru.oemdtc.com/278/wqr-53-takata-front-passenger-air-bag-inflator-replacement-2003-2008-subaru/6

 

It refers to removing "instrument panel assembly" and there is a picture of a removed dash. Looks like dealers NOT removing the dash are taking a shortcut. Wonder how safe.

 

Frankly the procedure is involved enough I have little faith that majority of dealer monkeys will put enough care to do the job properly

 

It even calls for the assembly to be mounted to some special jig:

 

IMPORTANT: The removed airbag module must be mounted to the Airbag Deployment Fixture (part number J-39401-B)

 

No ******* way they can get this done properly in 1.75 hrs they get allocated.

Edited September 7, 2017 by unclemat

PDF document with the procedure:

 

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2015/RCRIT-15V323-7434.pdf

 

With the 3rd gen they can go through the glove box only, which is not surprised since the bag has a separate cover in the dash.

Edited September 7, 2017 by unclemat

Buddy of mine works at Subaru now, he said they don't replace the airbags, only the infiltrators. Which means they go through the glovebox without removing the dash, this also explains why my airbag serial numbers looked the same.

 

So for us true to OEM spec 05, half the car is still taken apart to get behind the dash? How hard is it to find the clips as I foresee them being damaged on mine. My dash and just about the whole interior is on it's 3rd SWP LGT.

Mine is an oem spec 05, where you have to remove the shifter surround to get to the cabin air filter box (which was empty), and they did it through the glove box and through the side panel.

 

One thing to keep an eye on is the passenger air channel, the monkey that did mine didn't connect or align it at all. Luckily my wife is always cold so she didn't mind the lack of airflow, but I would have chocked a muffin if it was my side. My friend says they just align it and call it a day, this guy didn't even do that was about 1/2 aligned, It took me a whole 30 seconds to pop it in properly into the channel and now it blows air at full force.

Mine is an oem spec 05, where you have to remove the shifter surround to get to the cabin air filter box (which was empty), and they did it through the glove box and through the side panel.

 

One thing to keep an eye on is the passenger air channel, the monkey that did mine didn't connect or align it at all. Luckily my wife is always cold so she didn't mind the lack of airflow, but I would have chocked a muffin if it was my side. My friend says they just align it and call it a day, this guy didn't even do that was about 1/2 aligned, It took me a whole 30 seconds to pop it in properly into the channel and now it blows air at full force.

 

I have not taken mine in yet, but I called the dealer (Subaru Wakefield in MA), they told me they will be taking the dash off.

 

I am now torn - the official procedure says to remove the dash, but then you risk a host of issues caused by a careless dealer monkey. On the other hand, I wonder if the shortcut procedure compromises the replacement bag in some way.

 

:spin:

When I first scheduled my apt, the dealer said it would take 8 hours and he would give me a loaner car. I get there the day of, expecting the 8 hours and reminded him of the rental car, he was reluctant but still gave it to me. 1.5 Hours in I get a call saying the car is ready for pickup.

 

Part of me was revealed because I didn't want them to destroy my gauges, but at the same time I was hoping they would destroy the dash so I could get a new one, that's rattle free . I guess it's still in very good condition and not sticky yet, so can't complain too much .

When I first scheduled my apt, the dealer said it would take 8 hours and he would give me a loaner car. I get there the day of, expecting the 8 hours and reminded him of the rental car, he was reluctant but still gave it to me. 1.5 Hours in I get a call saying the car is ready for pickup.

 

I believe they called me around 3-4PM after I dropped the car in the morning. If it takes them 1.5hrs now I wonder if they have some ready to swap airbags, looks like most of the time in the procedure posted by unclemat is spent dealing with inflator replacement.