While decorating your steering wheel with rhinestones may be a fashion statement, it can be dangerous to drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The federal agency issued a warning on Monday urging American drivers against the decorative trend, saying that the jewels can lead to serious injuries in a crash.
The jewelled emblems are often placed at the centre of steering wheels to hide a vehicle’s factory-made logos.
Unlike the permanently affixed logos that car manufacturers put on steering wheels, the aftermarket decals can easily come off, the agency noted.
In the event of a crash, the force from a deploying air bag can turn the product into a projectile that can seriously injure or kill the driver, the NHTSA said.
At least one driver is already known to have suffered a serious injury that blinded them in one eye when an emblem adorned with rhinestones dislodged from a steering wheel in a crash and hit them in the face, the NHTSA said.
Now, the agency is advising motorists not to use steering wheel decals in any vehicle, particularly those decorated with rhinestones.
Drivers who do have decals on their steering wheels are urged to have them removed.
Car company Nissan previously recalled more than 400,000 older SUV, van and pickup models after four injuries allegedly related to the Nissan emblem breaking off steering wheels when the airbag deflated, The Associated Press reported.
