In some cases they can fail to deploy or under-deploy.
In other cases, like this one from Honda, they can explode.
(Note: this was not a Takata airbag, apparently.)
EXCLUSIVE: TOYOTA Australia is trying to locate “thousands” of counterfeit airbag parts that could prove deadly in a crash.The bogus parts — sold in what appears to be genuine Toyota packaging — fit most of the 2 million Toyotas sold in Australia over the past 10 years, but the company has no idea how many have been installed in cars locally.
The fake airbag “spiral cables” are sold by unscrupulous importers who are selling them to independent repairers and possibly Toyota dealers who are likely unaware the parts are bogus.
Red alert ... a copy of the confidential Toyota dealer bulletin. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied
According to an urgent dealer bulletin obtained by News Corp Australia, Toyota has “serious concerns about the safety of these parts” after internal testing in Japan found there were four ways they could fail to deploy an airbag in a crash.Toyota Australia has declined to comment on the matter.
One dealer speaking on condition of anonymity said: “The problem is, we truly have no way of knowing how many of these fake parts are out there. But we suspect there are thousands, because they are quite a commonly used part.”
Read more here.