Let's Give responsibility for replacing air bags a 10-year limit....

Editorial: Air Bags Enough Already
When I read Jan, 22nd that Ford will recall 3 million vehicles for air bag inflators that could rupture, at a cost of $610 million, I wondered when this will ever stop?
I was around when air bags were first invented--I worked PR for a lab that did all kinds of experiments for safety, some using cadavers, others dogs. At the time in the spirit of Ralph Nader we thought every safety feature was a godsend.
But now, 70 later automakers are bring hit with repeated fines for selling safety equipment that deteriorated when it got old. I ask how long , for God's sake, do we expect these bags to work? For the life of the car? When the automakers agreed to put air bags in, did they ever think when the car becomes a $500 rambling rusto bucket-oh at the dark corner of the used car lot they would still be responsible for air bags invented many decades ago?
I think there should be a statute of limitations for ten years after the car's model year. Before when I aired this idea and said competition safety belts should be put in instead I got heat from those who said the cloth belts deteriorate fast, they rot in three years so who would pay for their replacement?
I point to other parts of the car--the engine, the trans, the differential, most new car buyers are lucky to get a 30,000 mile warranty but at least a couple, like Kia, go 100,000. They needed to do that to overcome n early reputation for lack of quality. But nobody would demand Kia do replacement of worn out mechanical parts at 200,000 or 300,000 miles. And yet, with air bags every old car is a rolling time bomb as the propellants lose their reliability and the casings age and crack and throw shrapnel when they explode.
If the gum'mint keeps imposing the "You're responsible forever" rules on automakers, a lot of them will go broke.
Ralph Nader probably doesn't care. Old Ralphie got what he wanted but these rising costs of having to keep devices updated in old cars that are simultaneously plunging in value is going to kill the American auto industry.
A story from Reuters by David Shepardson Jan. 22, 2021 said
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday ordered Ford to issue the recall for driver-side air bag inflators, rejecting the automaker's 2017 petition to avoid it.
The defect, which in rare instances leads to air bag inflators rupturing and sending potentially deadly metal fragments flying, prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history of more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators installed by 19 major automakers have been recalled.

The recall includes 2.7 million U.S. vehicles. Ford will include the cost in fourth-quarter results.

The vehicles were previously recalled for passenger-side inflators. "We believe our extensive data demonstrated that a safety recall was not warranted for the driver-side airbag. However, we respect NHTSA’s decision and will issue a recall," Ford said.

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NHTSA also required Mazda Motor Corp to recall 5,800 air bag inflators in 2007–2009 B-Series vehicles.

The Reuters story went on: "Takata inflators have resulted in at least 400 injuries and 27 deaths worldwide - including 18 U.S. fatalities with two in previously recalled 2006 Ford Ranger trucks.

The Ford vehicles being recalled include various 2006-2012 model-year Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles.

In November, NHTSA rejected a petition filed by General Motors Co to avoid recalling 5.9 million U.S. vehicles with Takata air bags. GM said the callback covered 7 million vehicles worldwide and would cost $1.2 billion.

Ford separately disclosed on Thursday it expects to record a pretax remeasurement loss of $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter related to pension and other post-employment benefits plans, driven by lower discount rates.

Ford said the remeasurement loss is expected to reduce net income by about $1.2 billion, but did not change expectations for 2021 pension contributions."

I say enough already. No part of a car should be warrantied past a 10-year time limit. I had a 2015 car that was just hit in 2019, the car was still drivable but once the side airbags were deployed, the insurance company junked it. You can imagine how nervous car companies get when cars are more than 10 years old...