Ah yes, just when I thought human sadism was at a low...
Last Updated Fri, 26 Apr 2002 20:35:00
Police in Miami have found steering wheels stuffed with plastic bags, running shoes and beer cans.
VANCOUVER - A British Columbia coroner has recommended fake airbags be made illegal. Fake airbags look like real ones but they don't deploy in an accident.
The recommendation comes in the wake of an investigation into the death of a Vancouver woman.
MARKETPLACE: Fake Airbags
Najma Ladhani died in a car accident two years ago. The 53-year-old woman had been driving a used car. Police in Coquitlam, B.C., inspected the steering wheel and noticed someone had cut out the airbag and stuffed the space with a piece of foam. The airbag cover had been glued back, so everything looked normal.
Police say Ladhani died instantly but she might have survived if her airbag had deployed.
"In the case of my aunt's death, there's been no charge for what we think is murder," Shaheen Tejani said.
FROM MARCH 19, 2002: Fake airbags a growing concern
Police in Canada aren't sure how many cars have fake airbags but police in the U.S. estimate as many as one out of 25 cars that have been in an accident have a fake airbag.
Gordon Hemrich, a Vancouver mechanic, says he's seen 10 fake airbags in the past 12 months.
"What they do is they take out the remaining airbag inside, then they get it repaired by an upholstery guy and just seal it off," says Hemrich.
Police in Miami have found steering wheels stuffed with plastic bags, running shoes and beer cans.
Replacing real airbags can cost thousands of dollars.
The coroner's report, the first to examine this issue in Canada, says the Motor Vehicle Act should be changed to make it illegal to replace deployed airbags with fake ones.
"I think it will be a deterrent," says Shaheen Tejani. "Right now, you can put whatever you want in there, you can say whatever you want. There's no recourse."
The report also calls for stiff penalties for those who continue to install fake airbags and for public campaigns to warn drivers.
B.C's attorney-general will now review the coroner's recommendations. If he accepts them, B.C. would become the first province to make fake airbags illegal.
Written by CBC News Online staff |
