http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Cars-found-with-missing-safety-features
:picard:
Is it Toyota?? Tell me it’s Toyota!
$200 seems like pretty weak compensation for finding out you didn’t have side airbags.
$145 seems pretty weak for a rental car company to delete them in the first place. I’m sure there are lawyers looking for people who were in side impact collisions in rental cars right now.
Damn, who knew you could do that?
If its an available option from the factory, how can they be faulted for not ordering it? It’s not like they removed the airbags and put the trim back up that said “side airbag”. That’s like saying, “My ass is cold because I don’t have heated seats. Sure I know they’re an option, but I’m cheap and only want to buy the base model, but damnit they should still have them!”
Shame on Enterprise for lying to people, but I can’t feel too sorry for the people who didn’t think enough to look for those letters that say “side airbag” before buying the car.
Edit: Now if the trim still said “side airbag” and they weren’t there then I can see really being pissed!
As part of a deal, General Motors allowed rental car companies to delete side airbags at the factory to save money.
Maybe I’m wrong but it sounds like the rental car companies worked out some special deal with GM though. The average consumer can’t get that car without side airbags so why would they be looking for some sneaky airbag delete option code?
“for a mere 145$…”
“now there’s over 100,000 of these cars…”
that’s fucking $14,500,000 , not so much of a small number now is it?
I must say Chevy def has an issue with air bags. Ive heard numerous cases of them not deploying at higher speed accidents. In fact I was in an accident with a brand new 08 cobalt sedan about 2 years ago me and my friend were pulling out of an oil change place in his 89 prelude and this older woman hit us going about 45 mph because she didn’t see us behind a car in the turning lane. all it did to his lude was dent the hood, bend the fender and shift the bumper over 6 inches.
The woman’s cobalt was totaled. windshield split, headlights smashed, bumper destroyed, and the radiator was shooting coolant 10 feet into the air and her air bags never deployed.
that’s fine American engineering at its finest :ham:lol
^^ But that’s not what this thread is about.
I wonder if any other car companies offer the airbag ‘delete’ with fleet vehicles?
nah I know im just saying chevy is known to be weird with air bags in general, ive heard of them not working or them being missing like mentioned lol
Like I said, if that’s the case then I agree with you. But if it was just an option box that anyone could not order then I can’t fault them other than the lying part. Like was said above, $145 times 100,000 cars is a lot of money Enterprise saves.
It’s not an option box. The Impala is sold with standard side airbags. It was a fleet negotiated only option to remove them. And really, it’s not too much money when you’re talking about a company with a revenue of 12.1 billion. 21st largest privately held company on Forbes 2008 list.
5 people have died in side impact collisions with Impala’s missing their side impact air bags. I bet once the lawyers get done that money “saved” is going to turn into a big loss.
This is pretty old news, I had heard about this a while ago.
Lame none-the-less. The kind of thing they do and hope no one ever figures out.
Is it your responsibility to notify someone buying something used from you of its features? I bet most places selling these cars were not aware that they had deleted features.
Also, if you are that worried about safety, buy a new car with the features you want. I feel no pity for these losers unless they were blatantly lied to.
The way you know the airbags are missing is if you find the deleted option code "AK5 " on the vehicle identification plate in the trunk and if the door trim is also missing the word “airbag.”
Enterprise, which admits it incorrectly listed some of these cars on its website for sale with side airbags apologized for the error. It has also offered to buy back their vehicles for $750 over the blue book values or pay $200 for the customer’s inconvenience. GM says the cars meet or exceed federal safety standards.
So when dealers just place the standard Impala description on the side window it is misleading, Enterprise has admitted that they have accidentally used this description on their own website. This was someone’s mistake, they offer to buy the car back + $750, I don’t really see a problem unless they don’t cover your taxes paid.
The article makes it seem that Enterprise had listed them for sale as still having the airbags which seems to be the problem.
Yes I just edited my post. They are offering +750 buy backs or 200 to just keep the car. Seems to solve the problem in my eyes.
if you want a car with ultra modern safety features and safety as a priority you shouldnt be buying a used super base model chevy anyway
I have no sympathy for these people
:picard:
You do realize every Impala sold to consumers comes standard with side airbags right? And these were being advertised as having the STANDARD feature of side air bags. Rental cars are rarely super base either, especially when you move up to full sized sedans. Tons of year old low mileage used cars sitting on dealer lots are rental buybacks that without a carfax you’d never know they were fleet vehicles.
Yeah definitely shouldn’t be buying Impalas for side impact safety!