Ok, I have a dumb question, admitting I know little about replacing airbags;
The recall cites defective inflaters.
Are the inflaters integrated into the airbags, or is it a separate device?
I imagine they are, but why specify the inflater?
Just wondering if they can replace the inflater itself without the airbag.

 

Advice has changed December 2014, Please read first post in this thread...

Critics Take Aim at 'Geographic Recalls' Amid Air Bag Defects - NBC News

Latest news story: Lawmakers and experts slam any "regional" recall for theses faulty airbags,calling any such regional recall as "irresponsible". We have posts here with RX8 airbag recalls in non-humid states already.

I was slammed here by our verbose moderator for earlier suggesting the reasons why the recall needed go beyond those "humid states". Now it looks like auto experts and government officials agree it is a nationwide problem and should be a nationwide recall. Very interesting!

 

The info in that story that only one of the four deaths was in a humid state is a real eye opener. Doesn't the auto industry ever learn?

Ken

 

I feel special then. I am one of the 2.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

 

I believe they are integrated, similar to the way that the powder in a bullet is "integrated" with the actual projectile. You could probably separate them, but with a level of danger and/or skill that is beyond the average dealer tech. Liability alone would pretty much require replacing the entire module.

My point was never against any expansion. It's clearly expanded several times since the original recall, which didn't even touch Mazda, then to a handful of RX-8s, then more, then thousands, and then 14,000 or so. I'm not blind to the fact that it could easily expand further.

I was just challenging the assumptions and statements you were making, and I guess you took it personally.

 

Like ... yeah. It was the only reason I was at the dealer. They ordered the part the week before. It's done.

 

Ok, just double checking.

 

Did they replace the dash? I have the cracked dash, am hoping it's all one piece, and that gets fixed as well.

 

Bastage - my question exactly, but I have a feeling it's wishful thinking. My 05 is fairly pristine except for the dash that has about five cracks and looks horrible.

 

Well I guess my assumptions and statements are being borne out and supported across the country. Nothing personal, just the facts.

 

riwwp seperating a bullet from the case and dumping out the powder is pretty easy. just sayin

gwilliams, i assumed you were gonna list your rotary history.

 

Advice has changed December 2014, Please read first post in this thread...

200:
Yeah, best analogy I could come up with. You probably wouldn't want to be using ammo that a dealer tech separated and then reassembled either though


gwilliams:
A spreading of the recall isn't actually supporting your statement that you, in NJ, have the same heat and humidity levels as PR and FL. That is still a flawed statement, no matter how many media articles you link.

Your VIN is also still outside of the affected range. Rather than linking media articles, you should be digging for WHY it is outside the affected range.

If it is outside of the range because Mazda hasn't bothered to increase the range, then yes, your argument is valid. If instead your vin is outside the range because Mazda knows with 100% certainty that you do not even have a chance at having one of those airbags, then your arguments are entirely invalid. Linking media articles does nothing to define what boundries are being placed on the RX-8 vin range. For example, is it possible that your airbag wasn't even made by the manufacturer in question? Yes, it is possible, since your car was made 4 years after the problem was first discovered.

I've been saying from the start that you need to find out that information first, before panicing that you may or may not have an airbag that will kill you. I am not panicing about my MSM's airbags, because they don't have the possibility of being affected by the root cause of this defect. Your 8 is outside the vin range, and until there is clear evidence that it should be inside the vin range, your panic is unwarranted. That's my point. Sure, dig for that proof and evidence, and if you find it, good for you, raise hell until you get it included. However, linking other media articles is NOT proof. The media using itself to substantiate it's own stories is rather bad journalism, so linking media articles about other cars and other expansions does nothing to define or prove your specific case.

 

have not seen any letter from mazda on this recall. i already called and the guy who i spoke to didn't even know about it. or that's what he said. i'm in oklahoma, by the way and it's humid from spring to whenever it gets cooler

yamajj

 

I called the dealer the other day and told them about the recall notice I received. The guy on the phone asked when I wanted to bring it in and I said, "When you have received the parts".

Anyway, the parts guy (we've done a lot of business together) called me today and said the parts are in whenever I have a chance to come in.

 

Which dealership?

 

Premier Mazda. I live in the south of KC.

 

Get it together here RIWWP. why do you continue to misquote me and use your misquotes to make your argument. I NEVER said that NJ had the same humidity as Pr and Fla etc. Show my statement where I said what you claim I said, or stop your misquotes and your arguments based on your misquotes.

What I DID say was that for someone like me that makes repeated travel down to SC and Fla., my RX8 is exposed to high humidity on a regular basis. This is EXACTLY the argument being made by several US Senators in their demand that the recall be expanded beyond the initial few states. And we now know from forum members reporting on their own recalls that the RX8 recall is now being expanded to other midwest, northern states and even Alaska. RIWWP for all your great knowledge and help you give here on this site, you refuse to admit you are wrong and you refuse to admit that you continue to misquote me and make your arguments based on your misquotes. Also my 2008 vin number was just outside the original recall, but now my Mazda dealer says I may indeed be subject to the recall with my 2008 RX8. They are waiting for the latest update from Mazda.

You are the only one in a panic. I don't panic. I have been in the heat of battle in covering war and have not panicked. A recall doesn't make me panic. As a longtime professional investigative journalist whom actually has covered prior automotive recalls i knew from experience that early recall notices where only going to be the tip of the iceberg, and so far that has been proven correct as the recalls have been expanded. You seem to discount all media in this issue, when often it is that very media reporting that gets proper action. If all recalls were left up to the automotive industry they would continue to suppress the evidence, as was the case here, when these recalls should have occurred years ago.

It was that media reporting of the crashes and shrapnel from explosive airbags and the media reporting of many such incidents in non-humid states that has put the fire to the feet of government and auto industry to get it right and quickly expand the recall as folks are still at risk. And the recalls are now being expanded after media reports and political pressure.

You can bash me and the media all you want, but you are simply out of touch and wrong here RIWWP. JUST STOP MISQUOTING ME, STOP IT NOW. You are doing a real disservice to this forum. You are a moderator and should be operating at a higher ethical standard of truth and accuracy here !

 

I guess I touched a pretty big nerve there. I'll stop replying because it's not going to get us anywhere.

 

Edit:

My bad


still no word from my dealer on the parts yet tho

 

No you have not touched a nerve,don't flatter yourself. You just came up against the truth , facts and accurate statements that you didn't agree with, and wrongly misquoted. I will agree to end this discussion with you now also, the forum deserves better here.

I will of course let the forum know if and when my 2008 RX8 gets an airbag recall.

 

i am somewhat confused as to what exactly is the defect being addressed by this recall. i have read about a faulty inflator but does a defective inflator cause shrapnel? when reading the previously posted letter from Mazda it seemed to me that the issue was in the front airbag cover that cracks in hot&humid climates. could it be that in the event of an accident where the airbags should deploy, the airbag cover could potentially break off into peices that become harmful shrapnel? or rather is the issue with the inflator and/or a housing inside the airbag unit itself? however if my memory serves me correctly the passenger airbag is integrated into the cover and not seperable, as is the driver airbag centered in the steering wheel. is there anyone who can shed light onto this matter or is all simply hearsay at this point in time?

 

The issue is with the mix of chemicals in the inflator's charge. Basically, Takata, the airbag manufacturer, messed up with a production run of airbags with a faulty mix of chemicals. When that particularly faulty mix is exposed to "too much heat and humidity" (there is no definition of how much is needed) then the chemical composition of the charge becomes too explosive. In an accident, rather than releasing it in a controlled discharge, it is released all at once. The effectiveness of an airbag is critically based on the speed of that discharge, it has to be fast enough that the airbag will be inflated ~>50% by the time someone's face hits it, to provide the cushion, but not so fast that it becomes a hard unyielding surface for that person's face. In an explosive release, the added problem that has drawn so much media attention is that the airbag cover/housing/shrouding won't split along the pre-designed seams, but instead may shatter in other ways, and that shattering is what creates the shrapnel.


The actual airbags effected is rather small, however due to paperwork and tracking problems. Takata can't figure out what manufactuers got the airbags, so the only option for them (and the car manufacturer's) is to recall every single one of that airbag model within the suspect range to make sure that they get them all. Since it was a common airbag module, this covers millions of cars.

 

hrmm. I think thats enough to justify replacing my ugly a-- cracked airbag cover. they couldve at least designed it to burst open in a big Mazda M logo instead of a big fat H. then the cracks would actually look kinda cool.

 

There has been no link between a cracked airbag cover and unintended* airbag injuries






*all airbag deployments cause injuries if there is a human sitting there on the receiving end...

 

If the shrapnel is from the airbag cover not splitting quickly enough when the explosive charge detonates rather than burns, it would seem to me that a pre-cracked cover would be a good thing.

So a cracked cover is a feature, not a defect.

Ken