California Educator

February/March 2022

Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1449741

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Y O U ' R E D O I N G A L L you can to make your classroom safe. But what about your own safety? For most teachers, the riskiest part of your day is driving to and from work. Add- ing to the risk: You and your family may be riding in a car with dangerous unrepaired safety recall defects. Air Force officer Stephanie Erdman nearly lost an eye when the Takata airbag in her 2003 Honda Civic exploded in a 2013 collision. Corona resident Delia Robles, a 50-year- old grandmother, was not as lucky: In 2017, on her way to get a flu shot, the 2001 Civic she was driving collided with a pickup truck. According to her son, she was driving only 25 mph and always wore a seat belt. Ordinarily, she would have survived. But the Takata airbag exploded upon impact and caused her death. Honda had recalled the car years before the crash, but the defective airbag was never repaired. Most airbags protect drivers and passengers from serious injuries and death. But Takata used a cheaper, more volatile chemical to inflate its airbags, causing metal shrapnel to slice into drivers' and passengers' faces, necks and torsos. Over 100 million airbags in vehicles produced by GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler/Jeep, Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, Sub- aru, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Hyundai and other major auto manufacturers were built with recalled Takata airbags. They have caused hundreds of devastating injuries, including blindness, and dozens of fatalities. Does your car, or your teen's car, have a hidden deadly safety recall defect? Here's how to find out and fix it. By Rosemary Shahan Auto Safety 6.3 million vehicles currently registered in California have at least one potentially deadly unrepaired safety recall defect. Is your car one of them? Rosemary Shahan is president of the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety Foundation, which works with CTA as part of the Consumer Federation of California. For more information, visit carsfoundation.org, where you'll also find tips for buying a used car. 53 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 2 C

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