BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 869
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
SB 869 (Yee) - As Amended: June 20, 2011
(As Proposed to Be Amended)
SENATE VOTE : 38-1
SUBJECT : Automotive repair dealers: airbags.
SUMMARY : As proposed to be amended, makes it a misdemeanor for
an automotive repair dealer who prepares a written estimate for
repairs, as specified, that includes replacement of a deployed
airbag that is part of an inflatable restraint system, and who
fails to repair and fully restore the airbag that is part of an
inflatable restraint system to its original operating condition,
where the customer has paid for the airbag as provided in the
estimate. This is punishable by a fine of $5000 or by
confinement in a county jail for one year or by both that fine
and confinement.
EXISTING LAW
1)Licenses and regulates more than 35,000 automotive repair
dealers under the Automotive Repair Act (Act) by the
Bureau of Automotive Repair within the DCA.
2)Establishes a misdemeanor penalty of up to six months in
jail, a $1,000 fine, or both, for any person who fails to
comply with the provisions of the Act.
3)Establishes, in the vehicle code, a misdemeanor penalty
of up to one year in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both, for
any person who installs or reinstalls for compensation,
distributes or sells a previously deployed airbag in a
vehicle, if the person knows that the airbag has been
previously deployed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, "Nearly
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1 in every 5 fatal accidents involves a vehicle with a missing
or malfunctioning airbag. Eighteen percent of fatal accidents
involved vehicles that lacked proper airbags as result of not
being replaced or properly replaced following a previous
accident.
"Consumers spend over $1,000 for replacement airbags and
sometimes do not receive them. Some dealers and repair shops
have even stuffed airbag compartments with aluminum cans, shoe
leather, packaging materials and paper. Many used cars being
offered for sale have been in accidents, then salvaged and
resold, possibly without airbags. It is up to California to
make a clear statement that airbag fraud is unacceptable."
Background . Under current law, if a person knowingly installs
or reinstalls an airbag that has been previously deployed, he or
she is guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of $5000
or by confinement in a county jail for one year, or by both.
This existing violation is narrower than that proposed by SB
869, which would expand the penalties to cover a person who
fails to repair and fully restore the airbag that is part of an
inflatable restraint system to its original operating condition.
Additionally, under current law, a violation of the Act, for
example, if a person fails to properly replace an airbag as
indicated on an invoice, is also a misdemeanor, but punishable
by a fine of $1000 or by confinement in a county jail for one
year, or by both. While the misdemeanor proposed by SB 869
would be covered by the Act, this bill would expand the
punishment to a fine of $5000 or by confinement in a county jail
for one year, or by both.
A February 2008 Reader's Digest article, Airbag Scams: Dashboard
Danger, discussed several accidents where a faulty airbag led to
a fatality in an automobile accident. In one case in San Diego,
an 18-year old man died in a car accident where the airbag
compartments were stuffed with paper. A forensic scientist
concluded that although he had not been wearing a seatbelt, had
there been an airbag in the truck, he would have survived. The
article also stated that a consumer is vulnerable to these types
of fraud whenever he or she buys a used vehicle or sends a
wrecked one for repairs. A con artist who steals a brand new
single airbag can make $1,000 or more.
In 2009, 10News in San Diego reported on a father and mother who
lost their son due to air bag fraud and were awarded a $15
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million judgment against the owner of an auto repair shop.
Their son was killed in a car accident as a result of a
fraudulent airbag repair in which the body shop filled the
steering wheel with paper instead of a new airbag. A 2008
investigation by National Public Radio uncovered other cases in
which repair shops had stuffed paper and other material into the
air bag compartment or left it empty.
Previous legislation . SB 427 (Negrete McLeod) of 2009 would
have established the same misdemeanor with the same penalties
for a violation as the current bill. Additionally, that bill
would have required the parts invoice for any replacement airbag
installed as part of the vehicle repair to be attached to the
final repair invoice given to a consumer. SB 427 was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, citing that it was duplicative of
existing law and, therefore, added very little additional
benefit to consumers.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Center for Auto Safety (co-sponsor)
Certified Automotive Parts Association (co-sponsor)
Association of California Insurance Companies
Association of Global Automakers
Personal Insurance Federation of California
Trauma Foundation
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marina Wiant / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301