Saving Money on a Crucial Automotive Safety System
Automotive airbags are, in some respects, priceless. Experts estimate that they cut the risk of dying in a major car crash by as much as a third, meaning that tens of thousands of people are saved by airbags every year. Even in less violent collisions, airbags can greatly reduce the risk of injury, making it far more likely that the occupants of a vehicle will walk away unscathed.
To accomplish that requires some impressive technology. In order to be effective, airbags have to trigger in a fraction of a second, because any delay would prevent them from filling the space a person's body would otherwise be thrust into. That requires sophisticated circuitry and a load of high-pressure gas that is ready to fill a given bag at a moment's notice.
Unsurprisingly, all that technology and high-precision engineering is fairly expensive. A single airbag unit can cost a manufacturer as much as a thousand dollars to make, with the most effective of them constantly pushing the boundaries as the technology advances. While airbags are priceless in terms of the safety they offer, then, they are also pricey in terms of what they cost car manufacturers and buyers.
This also means that replacing a faulty airbag can be expensive. It is not unusual for a manufacturer to charge $1500 or more for a replacement unit, with the airbags meant for some luxury cars going even higher. That can easily result in sticker shock for those who have the need to arrange for such a replacement. Fortunately, there are generally good ways of keeping costs down, too.
One of the best ways of cutting the cost of air bags replacement is to seek out used replacement parts. Many dealers of Used Car Parts have lots hosting hundreds of cars that no longer have a place on the roads, and many of their parts are often in excellent condition.
Just as with the used engines that some car owners are familiar with, then, buying used air bags can be a great way of saving a lot of money. While prices vary from one dealer to the next, it is common for a used unit to be priced at ten percent or less of what a brand new one would typically cost. Because of the sophisticated fail-safe diagnostic systems incorporated into every airbag, too, buyers can be assured that the replacements they arrange for in this way will perform when they are finally needed.
