Chrysler Minivan Airbag Recall
In May, Chrysler recalled more than 270,000 minivans in more than 20 states -- including New York -- because they contain defective air bags that might not deploy in an accident. The article from CNN says that 2005 model-year Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans are being recalled in states that salt their roads often, because the salt may corrode the sensors that tell the airbags when to open. And as you can imagine, when an air bag fails to open in an accident, the results can be catastrophic: serious head, neck and soft tissue injuries for drivers and passengers who thought they were doing everything they could to stay safe.
We applaud Chrysler for recalling the defective vans. Having handled many auto product defect lawsuits, we know that not all manufacturers are willing to spend money on a recall if they think they can get away with not recalling a defective product and just quietly settling the inevitable lawsuits. But we're interested in why this recall took place more than two years after the defective minivans arrived on the market. The articles on this recall don't say whether it was prompted by consumer complaints, but a search of the federal Department of Transportation's records does show nine complaints about the Caravan's airbag sensors and 21 for the Town and Country. The complaints and the time lag make us suspect that there were quite a few reports of air bags not opening during accidents in the winters since these vans started being sold. Our consumer safety systems favor manufacturers, not individual consumers, by presuming products are safe until reports of injuries and deaths start rolling in. Like most recalls, this one may be coming too late for a few unlucky families.
