Something else to watch out for with rental cars
 

Rented a car today from Hertz (needed one for 4 people vs my little coupe) and didn;t realize until I picked up the ladies that the car didn't have a front passenger airbag.

Now - I couldn't imagine that this was possible - but in order to install the GPS device (for which I have no use) the passenger airbag has to be disabled in some cars. This was a Chevy Impala - and I ended up riding around with 3 people squished in the back seat - luckily 2 were petite older ladies.

I complained when I got back and the agent came with me to check the car and agreed the airbag had been disabled. She said she had never seen this before - but it was a brand new car - only 200 some miles.

She gave me a coupon for a free day rental in compensation. But that's not the real issue. If someone rented the car and needed the front passenger seat it was unusable.

Just another thing to watch out for when you're renting - be sure the airbag isn;t disabled if you ask for - or just get - a GPS.

Wow...and to think that people have been riding in these "unusable" seats since the early 1900s.

How did you actually know the car didn't have a front passenger airbag? Did one of the ladies just *know* this?

Thanks for the heads up. My husband always rents from Hertz. I'll have to go and ask if he knew about this.

Come on saps! You gotta give modern technology a chance, lol.

I wonder if all Americans driving an 8 year old car or older put passengers in the back seat? I wonder how many pre-air bag cars are still on the road. It would be interesting to see the stats.

I believe most two seaters either don't have a passenger side airbag or else allow it to be turned off to accommodate children and/or small adult passengers.

I'm curious too how you knew it didn't have a passenger seat airbag. We had a Hertz car with the NeverLost nav system (which we <i>loved</i>). It was a Jaguar, not domestic, which makes me wonder even more if it had no airbag because of the system. Not that I'd have ridden in the back had we known....but I'm curious how did you know?

I'm not a trained car mechanic - but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Impalas have an indicator on the dashboard that will say &quot;Passenger side airbag has been disabled&quot; or something to that effect. We have them at work.

Many new cars have the passenger side airbag disabled unless there is an actual passenger sitting in the seat. We have one of those cars.

The cars my husband rents from Hertz always have a GPS device and passenger side airbags - always.

Interesting, stw. Are you saying the indicator light says it's disabled until someone sits in the seat?

Our new car has a sensor so if someone weighing less than 60 pounds is in the seat, it disables the airbag as the car sort of presumes it's a child. We don't have kids, but when the dog rides shotgun, the light comes on telling me the airbag is disabled.

Evidently so.
http://www.chevrolet.com/impala/safety/

Yes, starrsville, there is an indicator on the dashboard.

So do we know if the airbag was disabled due to GPS installation, or if the indicator light was on simply because there was no passenger in the seat?

So, is there a chance that the passenger air bag was functional but the OP didn't think so because the seat was empty - or a child weighing less than 60 pounds?

That's possible, starrsy.

As a brilliant woman said earlier today...

Hmmmm :-?

Was that brilliant woman you, starrsy or was it me? :-))

Actually, it could have been either OBVIOUSLY...but was STW! :-)

LOL! No it was me! :D

Of course I'm not humble, lol. It could have been either one of you as well. :D :D

It just goes to show that the people at these rental agencies sometimes have no idea about what they are talking about. I'm not that into cars myself, but I did know about this new feature.

&lt;zoink&gt; that's the sound of my palm slapping my forehead.

There are so many brilliant women on this board, I didn't know which one it would be. :P

Well, I don't see anyone who said Hmmmmm on this thread... :)

Good deduction folks! Tomorrow, I'll take a trip out to one of our work Impalas and verify that it does say &quot;enabled&quot; when someone over 60lbs is in the passenger seat. Of course, I'll have to have someone else sit there because I am sooo svelt that I'm sure I wouldn't trigger the airbag... (cough, cough)

Hmmmm :-?

toed, also check that the dashboard indicator says disabled when the seat is empty. It sounds like that's what happened to the OP.

:-D

I will. I know that the whole time I've been in ours, they've read &quot;disabled&quot;, but I've always been in them alone. I will do a complete and thorough check.

And thank you STW! I knew someone had to have actually said that :)

You are right about rental employees not knowing everything about the cars - heck there are dealers out there who don't know about the cars they sell.

I have a 2007 Toyota Camry. When I have a passenger in that seat a light on the dash says &quot;Airbag On&quot; and the light stays on as long as the passenger sits there. When the seat is empty the light on the dash is blank.

I fail to see the problem.

Weren't &quot;YOU&quot; safe ?

Yes, I was safe. But I couldn;t put anyone in the front passenger seat - and 3 people had to squash in the back.

And I knew there was a problem because there was a light on the dash that said OFF next to the word passenger airbag. I couldn;t believe this was right - but had everyone sit in the back just in case. (And no - I originally had an adult sit in the front passenger seat - and the light still said OFF.)

If what some are suggesting is true - the problem may not have been the GPS - just that the passenger side airbag was stuck in the disabled position. But when I returned the car the agent agreed that the air bag was disabled by the GPS being positioned in front of the airbag.

She said she had never seen this before - since you can have a GPS without doing it (it would be ridiculous otherwise). But this model was new to her - and she said that was the problem.

And it was altogether a very badly dsigned car. The gear shift was on the wheel - instead of between the seats - but there was so much junk attached to the wheel you couldn't see the gear shift display without craneing your neck practically out of the window.

Also - either the gear box on this car was damaged or it was deliberately made in a crooked rather than in a straight line pattern. You had to shift in various directions to go from park to neutral, then another to reverse, then another to drive (but much worse than even the most esoteric manual tranmissions I have driven).

While I believe that airbags are a great invention I still think it is ridiculous to say you &quot;couldn't put anybody in the front seat&quot; and that it was &quot;unusable&quot;.

Passenger side airbags weren't common until the early to mid 1990s. Hundreds of millions of people have riden in cars without passanger side airbags and millions continue to today.

The seat was usable. You could have put somebody in the front. You chose not to. I think it is fine that you chose to make that decision but to come and say you had no other choice is a bit over dramatic.

I agree. It would not occur to me to put three adults in a back seat and not use the front passenger seat because of a disabled air bag.

The shifting situation sounds much like that on the 1962 Chevrolet I learned to drive on. Moving the lever forward prevents accidental shifting into reverse when going forward, and into park while moving -- rather than a button like when the stick is between the seats. I do agree that Chevy's put too damn many functions on those &quot;sticks&quot; protruding from the steering column.

I believe a friend's car (Honda? I think) had a switch in the glove compartment that disabled the drivers' side airbag - basically for small children and pets, and displayed a warning on the dash. Could the GPS have been removed &amp; airbag activated, or was it permenantly mounted.

I'm dismayed to find that my 1994 Nissan is unusable. My 1973 Triumph TR-6 doesn't even have an airbag for the driver! I'm all for technology, but can accept a few risks too; we sure took them growing up, didn't all of us?

I have just returned from testing our work Impalas.

When no one is seated, the dashboard reads:

Passenger Side Airbag
Off

When someone sits down in the passenger seat (once the engine is running), the dashboard reads:

Passenger Side Airbag
On

I do agree with the others, that regardless of whether the airbag is working, I would not have made 3 people sit in the backseat UNLESS I was planning on crashing into something.

A passenger in the front seat with a shoulder harness (even without airbag) is much safer than a passenger in the middle of the back seat with lap belt only.

I've taken an airbag and it's not fun.

I drive my massive 23 yr old car around all the time without a worry about the fact that I have no airbags...and was so thankful that was the car I was in when I was hit, not my little Z3 <i>with</i> airbags. Old Baby just shuttered but stood her ground. Z3 would have been scrap metal spread around the highway.

I understand your concern though nytraveler, and the reason for the post. You rent today's cars with certain expectations, and one of those expectations is that it have today's standard safety features, which would include two <u>functioning</u> front airbags.

I agree with all who think that the seat was still usable. Haven't they said that if you are under 5'2&quot; the air bag might cause more harm than it saves? This might have been the case for your petite older women passengers.

I agree the seat definitely wasn't unusable. They say children under 12 should not ride in the front seat with an airbag as it could be dangerous. So I had my 6'1&quot; son riding in the back until he was 13! But I'm 5'2&quot;, definitely the height of most 12 year olds so I would assume an airbag could actually be more dangerous.

Anyway, I wouldn't have had any qualms about sitting in the front seat with a disabled airbag.

Of course, I meant there was s switch to disable <b>passenger</b> airbag! I just took drivers insurance reduction class, and yes, shorter people are often insured by airbags, but not usally as bad as injuries in lap-only seatbelts. My Nissan has automatic shoulder harness, and I often have to ask passengers to belt up the lap unit too.

I don't want to sound like I was dismissing nytraveler's warning; as you DO expect certain features. I just would not have crammed 3 into the back seat.

Thank you for bringing this up, NY