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Econwatch
August 17, 2009 10:03 AM

Report: Enterprise Sold Cars Minus Airbags

By
Alex Sundby
Topics
In The News
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A move the national car rental agency Enterprise Rent-A-Car took to save millions of dollars could end up costing the company in the end following a report that the company sold thousands of Chevy Impalas without a standard safety feature.

The Kansas City Star reported Saturday that Enterprise "deleted" side-curtain air bags from the roughly 66,000 Impalas it sold after renting them out. The company also admitted to selling 745 Impalas without the airbags that were bought though online advertisements saying the cars included the safety feature.

"There's definitely a glitch in the system," Enterprise's vice president for corporate communications told The Star after the paper asked about the Web postings. "We'll make it right with our customers. … None of this is intentional."

Enterprise said it would contact all 745 drivers and offer to buy the cars back for $750 more than the Kelley Blue Book price. That's more than four times the $175 the company saved by ordering the cars with the airbags removed. The airbag removal from all 66,000 Impalas saved Enterprise about $11.5 million.

Side-curtain airbags have helped significantly reduce the number of highway deaths for drivers struck on the driver's side. A spokesman for Chevrolet told The Star the option to buy cars without the airbags helped companies avoid buying unwanted features. The airbags were removed from the 2006-08 models of the Impala.

"I've never seen a standard safety feature removed from a vehicle," the head of a safety research company told The Star. "That's what's so unique about this. I've been doing this work for 17 years and, until now, had yet to see this happen."

  • Alex Sundby

    Alex Sundby is an associate news editor for CBSNews.com

Add a Comment See all 30 Comments
by zonkzilla August 17, 2009 4:38 PM EDT
"if nothing else, the airbag prevented me from getting sliced to pieces from the glass, which cut through my shirt on the side where the bag didn't protect."

I am glad you were not hurt bad and I don't dispute that in your case the airbag did help you. Over 50 people have been killed by airbags in the US and over 300 worldwide.
Doc, don't get me started on lousy windshield design. I have seen cars designed for safety where the windshield is almost as far away from the driver as the front grill and to touch the side windows you would need a pole. The days of people needing to have a flat windshield in their face or a window next to their ears are long gone. Try flying a plane and then getting in a car and thinking, "who put that stupid windshield in my face?". If you can sit in the seat and stretch and reach ANY part of the windshield it is too darned close.
The automakers could build really safe cars if they would not waste all their resources on gadgets like Ipods, GPS, HUD, electronic stability, rear cameras, 4 zone AC, automatic seat positioning, etc. etc. and all those other expensive toys that are simply not needed in cars and just add huge amounts to the cost and repairs.
If anyone has a car that is blue book wholesale less than $3,500.00 and it deploys an air bag even if the rest of the car is almost undamaged, kiss it goodbye because the insurance company will total it and you will be walking or buying a new car and all for that stupid airbag replacement cost.
What a great way for the insurance companies to give you wholesale for your favorite car that you have spent money keeping right and that is paid for?
Reply to this comment
by saneObserver August 17, 2009 4:21 PM EDT
False advertising by enterprise a side, daily rental companies routinely decontent the vehicles they buy. I would not be surprised at all if enterprise was not the only company that ordered their vehicles this way or if Chevy was not the only manufacturer that provided them. They didn't sell death traps, they sold car w/o a piece of safety equipment (side curtain air bags) that used to be an option several years back and is gradually becoming standard on most vehicles. There's always a cost/safety trade-off. Or else, we'd be riding around in $100k armoured vehicles.
Reply to this comment
by rhs648 August 17, 2009 4:18 PM EDT
If side airbags were optional, Enterprise would be within its right not to order options when it purchases automobiles. I just purchased a new car where the dealer was ordering its new cars with a towing hitch option for $750. Not wanting a towing hitch, the dealer found me a car without one. Was I wrong not to purchase this option. It also appears that Enterprise advertised cars for sale incorrectly. Enterprise is offering to purchase these cars back at more than people paid for them. This seems fair if it was actually a mistake.
Reply to this comment
by rhs648 August 17, 2009 4:18 PM EDT
If side airbags were optional, Enterprise would be within its right not to order options when it purchases automobiles. I just purchased a new car where the dealer was ordering its new cars with a towing hitch option for $750. Not wanting a towing hitch, the dealer found me a car without one. Was I wrong not to purchase this option. It also appears that Enterprise advertised cars for sale incorrectly. Enterprise is offering to purchase these cars back at more than people paid for them. This seems fair if it was actually a mistake.
Reply to this comment
by rdepontb August 17, 2009 1:17 PM EDT
Thank you, Enterprise. This makes it much simpler to choose between which rental companies to use.
Reply to this comment
by cornnugget August 17, 2009 1:15 PM EDT
This report simply restates the report of the KCStar. It does no real reporting. The side airbags were not removed...geez. They were an option on the vehicle that was not choosen. Also the online sales were as a result of a software glitch, so the article reads, and they apparently are going above and beyond to fix that problem and make it right. Don't be so quick to crucify a company before you get your facts. Not all reporting is unbiased reporting. Actually its hard to find unbiased reporting these days...do a little investigation yourself, I bet you'd be surprised the good things you might find.
Reply to this comment
by sjc_1 August 17, 2009 4:20 PM EDT
We HAVE the facts after 20 years in business. People know what this company is all about, profit and exploitation. Anything to make more money, that is their goal.
by cdegolier August 17, 2009 1:09 PM EDT
A former rental car is the last car you want to buy. Only an idiot would buy a rental.
Reply to this comment
by rdepontb August 17, 2009 1:18 PM EDT
The point is that they were also renting cars that way, idiot.
by DaVicar5 August 17, 2009 1:23 PM EDT
by rdepontb "The point is that they were also renting cars that way, idiot."



Still, the LAST THING I want while cruising down the boulevard at 90MPH is some stupid airbag blasting off in my face, obscuring my view.
See all 4 Replies
by zonkzilla August 17, 2009 11:49 AM EDT
"Children are at a high risk of death by passenger-side air bags, even when the kids are properly buckled up, the government agency responsible for auto safety says.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that five-year-old Frances Ambrose was killed in a low-speed crash in Nashville, Tennessee. The force of the passenger-side air bag was responsible for her death, even though she was wearing a seat belt properly, NHTSA said.

About 28 children and 19 adults have been killed by the deployment of air bags."
Reply to this comment
by DaVicar5 August 17, 2009 1:18 PM EDT
"About 28 children and 19 adults have been killed by the deployment of air bags."



Compare that to the 70-to-90 Thousand who have been saved by airgbags...it comes out to be quite a bargain!
by TheOneAndOnlyBob August 17, 2009 1:28 PM EDT
And what about the thousands upon thousands have been saved by the airbag? Should we stop using airbags because they aren't perfect?

I'm incredibly sorry for the horrific loss of ANY person - particularly if a design can be improved to prevent it, which is needed here.

In the case of airbags, the designs of safety systems can be improved (or a better system can be developed) to try to prevent these needless deaths - BUT in the meantime, saving the lives of many thousands of times more people is a reasonable subsitute.
by Benton09 August 17, 2009 11:47 AM EDT
'Pick Enterprise....we'll take your airbag.. before we pick you up'.
Reply to this comment
by zonkzilla August 17, 2009 11:36 AM EDT
Not one aircraft I have flown including military has had an air bag of any kind.
Airbags are a total joke and are there for people who are too lazy and stupid to wear a seat belt or pay attention.
A four point seat belt would save ten times the lives of air bags and would not kill people in the process.
Airbags are just another expensive fraud put over on the American people.
Simple design changes in interior of cars would make them a lot safer than those stupid exploding bags of corn starch.
My wife's sister almost had her head blown off and went to the hospital ICU in an ambulance for a minor wreck because of an air bag since she is very short and very tiny so I have no use for the stupid things.
Why do you think children in child seats are not allowed in the front? It is because several children have actually had their heads blown off and into the back seat because of air bags.
Wear your seat belt, stay off that stupid cell phone, pay attention, and you will be just fine.
Reply to this comment
by doctajim August 17, 2009 1:18 PM EDT
I agree with the seat belt, attention, and cel phone - but I was front-left T-boned (speed differential of 40+ mph) by some woman who thought her cel conversation was more important than a red light, and the angle of the impact blew my windshield inward - if nothing else, the airbag prevented me from getting sliced to pieces from the glass, which cut through my shirt on the side where the bag didn't protect. I did get a bruise from the airbag cover though - also two internal bruises from the belt locking. I do agree with you on the 4-point; much better than the present 3-point.
by tiktin August 17, 2009 5:44 PM EDT
You are right about air bags, wrong about seatbelts. Both air bags and seatbelts are crackpot inventions thought up by amateurs who didn't know what they were doing. Both have killed thousands of people. The government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda campaigns to bamboozle the American people into using these dangerous devices. The seatbelt-airbag-booster seat industry takes in billions of dollars a year because government has forced these devices on the American people. The federal government has spent billions of dollars of your money to bribe states to force you to use these devices. It is probably the biggest blood soaked scam in all of human history. Air bags deploy at speeds up to 200 mph. If you get hit by one while it is deploying it can kill you. The azide explosive they use is toxic. If you are in a head on collision at a speed as low as 30 mph, the seatbelt will exert a force on you of 30g - that's fourthousandfivehundred pounds if you weigh 150 pounds. In other words, YOU WILL DIE.
There is a bill before congress right now, S.1496, which would authorize the government to spend another billion dollars of your money to further promote this fraud. Tell your senators and representatives now to vote no on S.1496.
See all 30 Comments
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