A teenage driver was killed in a serious crash – not because of the crash itself, but because of what was hidden inside her steering wheel.
According to a lawsuit filed by her family, a counterfeit airbag had been placed in her 2019 Hyundai Sonata during an earlier repair. When the car was in another collision in July 2025, that fake airbag sent metal pieces directly into her chest. She died at the scene.
This story is hard to hear. But it’s important. And it raises a question that every driver, every car buyer, and every regulator in America should be asking: how often does something like this happen?
We recently talked about this case in depth on our video series, The Airing of GRIEVEances. Watch it below. Then keep reading – because this article goes deeper into what you can do to protect yourself.
Watch: Counterfeit Airbags, Salvage Titles, and the Repairs That Can Kill You – The Airing of GRIEVEances, Ep. 269
What Is a Counterfeit Airbag?
A real airbag is not just a bag. Inside your steering wheel or dashboard is a small but very complex device. It has an inflator, a folded cloth bag, and electronic parts that talk to your car’s crash sensors. The whole system fires in less time than you can blink.
Car makers test these systems for years before they put them in a vehicle. Every part has to work exactly right.
A counterfeit airbag looks like the real thing on the outside. But the parts inside can be completely different. Some fake inflators have exploded during a crash instead of inflating safely – turning a life-saving device into a weapon.
That is what investigators believe happened in this case.
How Do Counterfeit Parts End Up in a Car?
To understand how a fake airbag gets into a vehicle, you need to know what happens after a serious crash.
When a car is badly damaged, an insurance company compares the cost to fix it against what the car is worth. If the repair cost is too high, the insurer declares the car a total loss and pays out the claim. The car then gets a salvage title.
Here’s where it gets complicated. That same car can be bought, repaired, and put back on the road. When it passes inspection, it gets a rebuilt title. Last year alone, about 2.5 million vehicles went through this process and returned to American roads.
Some of those repairs were done carefully and correctly. But others were done as cheaply as possible. And the system, in most states, does not catch the difference.
Why Don’t Inspections Catch This?
Rebuilt vehicle inspections vary a lot from state to state. Some check paperwork. Some look for stolen parts. Very few check whether the manufacturer’s repair procedures were actually followed.
Almost none of them involve taking the car apart to look at hidden safety parts – like the airbag module inside the steering wheel.
That means a car can pass inspection and look completely normal, even if the airbag inside is fake, the wrong size, or from a completely different vehicle.
The owner has no way to know. They drive the car every day, trusting that the safety system will protect them if something goes wrong.
What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
If you’re buying a used car, or if you already own one with a salvage or rebuilt title, here are steps you can take right now:
- Check the title history. Services like Carfax or AutoCheck can show you if a car has been declared a total loss in the past.
- Ask for repair records. A responsible shop will have documentation of every part that was replaced and every procedure that was followed.
- Choose a certified repair facility. Shops that are certified by the vehicle’s manufacturer are required to use real parts and follow real procedures.
- Get a pre-purchase inspection. Before you buy any used vehicle – especially one with a rebuilt title – have a trusted, certified shop inspect it. Ask them to specifically check safety systems.
- Don’t assume “it looks fine” means it is fine. Counterfeit parts are designed to look identical to the real thing. You cannot see the difference from the outside.
Why Certified Repair Matters
Nylund’s Collision Center is an authorized repair facility for Lexus and Lucid, and certified by Toyota. Those certifications are not just a badge on the wall. They require specific training, specific tools, and strict use of manufacturer-approved procedures.
When a car manufacturer designs a safety system, they design it as one connected system. The structure of the car, the seatbelts, the crash sensors, and the airbags all work together. When any one of those parts is wrong, the whole system can fail.
Manufacturer certifications exist because modern vehicles are too complex – and too important – to repair any other way.
Our job is to return your vehicle to exactly the condition the manufacturer designed it to be in. Not close. Not good enough. Exactly right.
The Question That Deserves an Answer
Regulators in the United States have already connected several deaths to counterfeit airbag inflators. Each one is a family who believed their car would keep them safe.
How many deaths does it take before counterfeit safety parts are removed from the marketplace entirely?
We don’t have a good answer to that question yet. What we do have is a commitment: every car that comes through our doors gets repaired the right way, with the right parts, following the right procedures. No shortcuts. No exceptions.
Because the people in those vehicles are real. And they deserve better.
If you found this article helpful, share it with someone who drives a rebuilt vehicle – or anyone who’s thinking about buying one. It could save a life.
About the Author: Eric Reamer
Eric Reamer has spent 17+ years in the collision repair industry, sharing stories of insurance and body shop accountability, quality in repair, and consumer advocacy. . Nylund’s Collision Center is an authorized Lexus and Lucid repair facility and Toyota-certified shop serving the Colorado Front Range. The shop’s Airing of GRIEVEances video series is dedicated to helping everyday drivers understand the collision repair process and make safer decisions. Views expressed are based on industry experience and publicly available information.