Senate Consumer
Committee Approves Greenleaf Airbag Fraud Bill
HARRISBURG – The Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure
Committee today approved a measure sponsored by Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf to
stop a potentially deadly trade in fake airbags.
Greenleaf noted that six states have enacted laws to stop the practice by
auto repair shops of installing a dummy airbag or filling an airbag compartment
with junk instead of using a working airbag to replace one that has been
deployed in an accident.
In the auto repair shops practicing the airbag scam, which was described
last year in an NBC news report, the customer—or an auto insurance company--
pays for a vehicle’s repair, including the cost of the new airbag.
Meanwhile, the unscrupulous repair shop operator has made pure profit
from the airbag replacement because a phony bag was installed or the airbag
compartment was stuffed with paper or other materials.
According to the news account, a motorist died in an accident subsequent
to a fraudulent repair and police discovered that his airbag compartment had
been stuffed with Styrofoam. Beer
cans and other junk have been found in airbag compartments after “repairs”
took place.
“This is a deliberate fraud that results in customers being cheated of
their money, and could also rob them of their lives.
The serious nature of this scam requires serious penalties,” Greenleaf
said.
Under Senate Bill 1042, trading in fake airbags by buying or selling
them, as well as installing dummy airbags or placing junk into an airbag
compartment in lieu of installing a real airbag will result in a first degree
misdemeanor charge.
The bill has the support of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a
group of 13 automakers.
