Bought a Used Car That Was Previously Wrecked? NHTSA Says Check the Airbag Immediately

A previously wrecked or rebuilt vehicle deserves more than a VIN recall check because dangerous replacement air bag inflators may not appear in the recall database. NHTSA urges owners to have vehicles with previous air bag deployments professionally inspected – Shuttesrtock

A shiny paint job can hide an ugly secret underneath the hood, and sometimes behind the steering wheel. If a used car has a crash in its history, NHTSA now urges owners to take a particularly close look at the air bag system because dangerous replacement inflators have killed people in otherwise survivable crashes. The concern becomes even more serious when the vehicle carries a salvage or rebuilt title.

This is not a warning about every used car that has ever suffered a fender-bender. It centers on vehicles that experienced a crash involving air bag deployment and later received replacement parts of questionable origin. NHTSA’s latest warning, issued September 3, 2026, says a defective Chinese replacement inflator recently caused another fatality, bringing the reported U.S. death toll from these banned inflators to 11.