#yankthatbag is a Call-to-Action for the Auto Recycling Industry to “be a LIFESAVER” by removing faulty recalled parts from inventory because this recall is like no other. Experts are predicting upwards of 100 million defective Takata airbags will be on recall by 2020. This is not just a problem in the good old USA. This is GLOBAL. Australia and New Zealand just issued compulsory recalls due to the high risk of injury or death.
While the Auto Recycling industry has never manufactured an air bag module, nor have we manufactured a vehicle, you can bet that when people are severely injured or killed, the individual recycler and our industry will be on trial.
Recently, I was struck by a business owner’s comment that it wasn’t worth removing airbags. First, this recycler must recognize the legal risk for their company. Ignorance or indifference to defective Takata airbags will not make the lawsuit go away if you are the one to sell an airbag that ultimately injures or kills a driver.
Second, we must all remember that there are so many of these defective airbags in circulation that it is likely someone in your family has a vehicle on recall. Both of Paul’s children have recalls on passenger side airbags in their personal vehicles. This has hit close to home!
Last month we wrote an article called “The 4X VIN Verification” which identifies four moments within the vehicle life at an auto recyclers facility that would present perfect opportunities to check the recall status of VIN’s going through your facility:
- Incoming Vehicles
- Dismantling Bay
- Point of Sale
- Pre-Crush
The key is that additional VINs are being released by the automakers via NHTSA, so while you might think you are set once the VIN was cleared at check-in, it is possible that the VIN was updated as a recall by the time it comes into dismantling, point of sale, or before it is crushed. This is not a buyer beware situation. The business will be held accountable if a recalled airbag is sold and even worse, the airbag causes injury or death. You can bet that the lawyers will trace every business that had a hand in supplying the parts or repairing that vehicle.
Financially, we can all agree that the cost of vehicle inventory could always be lower. We don’t have much control over the cost, but we do have control over how much money we can squeeze out of a vehicle. We pull every catalytic converter. We pull every aluminum wheel. We drain every vehicle. Many pull cores. Some of us pull reams of wire. All of these items take a variable amount of time and labor to produce a financial result. So why is there a resistance to removing defective airbags as part of the buyback program and sending them to RAS for a quick turn on your cash?
What? You didn’t know about the RAS airbag buyback program? Visit rascorepro.com and click on Search Recalls in the menu bar. Don’t let your competition get ahead of you.
Final thoughts:
- Do the Right Thing – Remove Recalled Airbags from your vehicles.
- Look after yourself, your family, and your customers. Run VIN Checks on their vehicles.
- Be Safe and Live Mas!
Katie the “Recall Gal” and Paul the “Recall Guy” represent the RAS Recall Team. Their Mission is to rid the planet of defective Airbags.
Want to join the Mission?
Call our Recall Team 877-829-1553 x 160