Legal Question in Product Liability in California

factory equiped air bags not present

I just purchased a 1999 explorer from a local used car dealer. The vehicle was originaly equiped with both driver and passenger air bags. Is it legal for the car to be sold from a dealer if there are no airbags in the vehicle, when both sides should have them? Is there some liability to the dealer to inform a customer of the missing airbags before the purchase?


Asked on 9/23/04, 8:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

Re: factory equiped air bags not present

The air bag mechanisms are valuable and some unscrupulous people steal them from cars and resell them (as did one of Tony Soprano's mob cousins). The liability of the used car dealer, of course, depends on how you found out the airbag/mechanism was missing. If you found out the hard way (i.e. by getting a steering column upside your head), you may have a very good case indeed. Or you may just have a case for the value of the airbags/mechanism. Or no case, if you had reason to know they were missing.

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Answered on 9/23/04, 10:23 pm


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