Airbag computer recall

[supton]

Autoblog

Reuters

Quote:
Takata isn't the only supplier having airbag problems. Rival manufacturer Continental Automotive Systems announced a recall of 5 million airbag control units fitted to vehicles from Honda, Fiat Chrysler Automotive, Mercedes-Benz, and even a certain Chrysler-based Volkswagen.


Quote:
Continental said in documents filed with U.S. regulators it received a control unit from Daimler in January 2008 after a vehicle owner complained the air bag warning light had illuminated. An investigation found a problem with the control unit that led to a design change in a semiconductor in 2008.

Continental said it built 3 million units from 2006 until the design change and 2 million after it that are covered by the recall. It did not receive any complaints after another change was made at the end of 2010 and completed in 2011.


Ok, it's nearly the recall that Takata is, but "yet another" recall.

 

[Leo99]

My Corolla has been recalled 3 times for this.

First time they just did an inspection and said everything was good.

Second time they changed a part out and said it was good.

Now, the third time, they want to change out the ECU.

 

[Andrew1972]

Terrible for everyone it falls into a popular vehicle like Honda Accord and Dodge Caravan..

 

[OneEyeJack]

I'd be willing to bet these guys making and selling those airbags knew there were problems and decided that they're selling so many they can easily survive a few dozen wrongful death judgments. When there's enough money to be made a few deaths is nothing to worry about while you're retired and sunning yourself on a beach somewhere. Corporations get sued. Executives cut and run unless they're in China.

 

[KGMtech]

The company I work for produces metal stampings and assemblies for the Automotive industry, we are a global company head office in Germany.

We looked at making airbag parts from our SW Ontario plant, these parts would have been for North American cars. We declined this business based on the huge extra liability insurance that would be required to work with these fussy parts.

Our plant in Germany continues to make these parts, but the nature of personal injury settlements in EU is not nearly as weird as exists in NA, so the liability premiums our head office in Germany maintains is not so extreme specific to these parts.

Name a part in your car that must work perfectly 1x regardless of it being 1 week old or 20 years old ? Air bags is the only one.

 

[PandaBear]

The problem with airbag is it is impossible to test it without destroying it. That means it is almost impossible to QA perfectly.

My guess is if it is a semiconductor problem, that would be in every single unit build not just for the US market, recall only in US because it is a liability issue.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: KGMtech
Name a part in your car that must work perfectly 1x regardless of it being 1 week old or 20 years old ? Air bags is the only one.


Seatbelts, the bolts that hold the belts to the floor, and crumple zones are the other ones that come to my mind.

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The problem with airbag is it is impossible to test it without destroying it. That means it is almost impossible to QA perfectly.


True, but in this case it was something that could be tested without destruction. It sounds like a design issue of some unspecified sort, it could be the semiconductor dies after x years due to thermal stress, or humidity, or who knows what.

 

[KGMtech]

Good points, but your owners manual tells you to inspect the webbing on your belts and replace if frayed or damaged in any way. Kind of hard to inspect the airbag parts list.

 

[bdcardinal]

I remember my 04 Volvo S60R had a label on the driver's rear door jam that stated a required interval for replacing the airbags. It was 10 years from assembly date, got rid of the car before I had to.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: KGMtech
Name a part in your car that must work perfectly 1x regardless of it being 1 week old or 20 years old ? Air bags is the only one.


Seatbelts, the bolts that hold the belts to the floor, and crumple zones are the other ones that come to my mind.

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The problem with airbag is it is impossible to test it without destroying it. That means it is almost impossible to QA perfectly.


True, but in this case it was something that could be tested without destruction. It sounds like a design issue of some unspecified sort, it could be the semiconductor dies after x years due to thermal stress, or humidity, or who knows what.

Seatbelts and their bolts don't work only once and then never again. You can repair a car after an accident and reuse them.

 

[supton]

Seatbelts need to be replaced after an accident. They are designed to stretch. Also, if they have a pretensioner, well those are one time use also.

I guess you can reuse the bolts, though.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: supton
Seatbelts need to be replaced after an accident. They are designed to stretch. Also, if they have a pretensioner, well those are one time use also.

I guess you can reuse the bolts, though.


Ya accidents where the value of the damage does not let the insurance total the vehicle are great for me. I love selling airbags, control modules, OWCS's, and seatbelts.