A used car lot in Florida sold a vehicle with defective airbags and seat belts

BRANDON, Fla. — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a warning earlier this year after multiple people died in crashes in which vehicles were discovered to have counterfeit or inoperative airbags.

There was one victim 23-year-old mother from Florida.

in August – the I-Team reported how a man bought two used Volvos from the same used car dealership in Hillsborough County and found out they had been involved in accidents.

Mechanics discovered that both cars had inoperative airbags and seat belts.

Volvo from a used car dealership — According to accident reports obtained by the I-Team, the Volvo Santiago was a rental vehicle that suffered “incapacitating damage” and had multiple airbags deploying.

When the customer found out about it, he took delivery of the vehicles.

Now I-Team investigator Adam Walser has located the new owner of one of these Volvos and arranged for him to have it checked by a mechanic to see if the safety equipment was properly repaired before it was sold again.

Based on the VIN number, we managed to identify the new owner of one of the cars, US Navy veteran Gilbert Santiago.

“It was stunning”

Santiago describes himself as a laid-back guy.

“A bit laid back and reserved. I don’t worry about too many things,” Santiago said.

When his Volkswagen Jetta was rear-ended, Santiago shrugged and kept walking HGreg in Brandon, where he purchased a 2022 Volvo S60.

HGreg Brandon — HGreg sold the Volvo S60 twice. In both cases, owners discovered that the airbags and seat belts were not working. Photos of both mechanics show the same junkyard markings on the airbag, which was eventually replaced by Santiago.

He used insurance compensation from a previous accident as a down payment to buy a Volvo that he believed was safe.

“I try to do the right thing by taking care of myself in this vehicle,” Santiago said.

What we told Santiago about his car and what we found out later made him furious.

We met Santiago at Brazzeal Automotive in Tampa, where he agreed to have a certified mechanic check his Volvo’s safety systems.

Previously, we sent Santiago information that he did not know about his car, including: information that it was auctioned off after an accident in which multiple airbags deployed, according to the report.

Santiago said he was not told that another customer had returned the car to HGreg, who took it to a mechanic and found problems with the front airbag and seat belt pretensioner.

“It was stunning to know that they knew this was a problem before,” Santiago said.

“The seat belts didn’t work. “The airbag didn’t deploy.”

Ron Egert bought Volvo from HGreg last year.

“The seat belts didn’t work. The airbag did not deploy,” Egert said.

Egert said he signed the Carfax report HGreg gave him showing the previous accident, but said he was told it passed multi-point inspections.

Carfax Egert — Ron Egert claims he signed a Carfax report showing the airbag had previously deployed, but assures him the car was properly repaired.

The company advertised multi-point inspections of all used cars it sold on your website.

Egert took the car to the Sarasota Volvo dealership when the airbag light came on.

The technician discovered that the driver’s airbag was rusty and showed signs of scrap metal. The wiring was compromised and the airbag was inappropriate for the vehicle.

So Egert turned the matter over to HGreg.

“I showed them the photos. I said you’re taking this car back. I’m going… this car is not safe to drive. No one should be driving this car,” Egert said.

An HGreg spokesman said the company “purchases vehicles only through the most reputable auction companies” and “conducts a multi-point inspection” that includes “a review of diagnostic indicators.”

She also wrote in a statement: “If for any reason HGreg determines that the vehicle’s airbags will not function as intended, HGreg will not sell them at retail.”

“Six thousand out of my pocket”

However, a few months later, HGreg sold the car to Santiago.

He developed problems almost immediately.

“The airbag light came on and I was told to go to the dealer immediately,” Santiago said.

He said a technician at the dealership told him his car had used crash parts installed.

This technician’s photo shows the same junkyard markings as a photo taken by mechanic Egert at another dealership a few months earlier.

Santiago paid to replace multiple airbags and related components.

“Probably about six thousand out of my pocket,” Santiago said.

Car replacements — Santiago paid more than $6,000 to replace the airbags after finding that HGreg refused to pay for the repairs.

He said he contacted HGreg.

“And they said it passed inspection. There was no indication that there was anything wrong with him. So there is nothing they can do,” Santiago said.

Carfax records show that the airbag system was inspected 17 days before purchasing the Santiago.

airbag harnesses — Mechanics at Volvo dealerships in Sarasota and Tampa discovered airbag wiring harnesses covered with tape. One technician wrote in his report that there had been “tampering.”

Photos taken by technician Santiago show the wires wrapped in insulating tape, as do those taken by technician Egert, who wrote that the wires to the airbag “were tampered with.”

– There’s something connected there. “Everything is recorded”

We asked Santiago to meet with us at Brazzeal Automotive because his mechanic in Tampa did not find the seat belt pretensioner problems that we had learned about in Egert’s report from the mechanic at the Volvo dealership in Sarasota.

“It now goes through every module in the car,” certified technician Chris Wallin told us as he connected the diagnostic tool.

“I don’t see any active codes,” Wallin said, which would normally mean all security systems are operational.

However, when Wallin opened the interior door panel, he found that the seat belt pretensioner was not connected to the harness, which would have allowed it to deploy.

“This should be connected here,” Wallin said, pointing to wires wrapped in electrical tape. “This is the seat belt pretensioner. And it looks like there’s something connected there. Everything is recorded.”

Wallin unwrapped the insulating tape to find the resistor.

A resistor is a passive element of an electrical circuit. It can be used to regulate or limit the flow of current.

In car repair, Wallin said, they can be used to solve electrical problems.

“They just took a resistor with the resistance that the tensioner should have and pushed it into the wiring harness to trick it into thinking it had a good tensioner,” Wallin said of Santiago’s car.

Wallin said this was done on purpose, but it is unclear who installed the resistor.

Pretensioners, like airbags, need to be replaced when deployed in an accident.

The resistor appeared to be the same resistor that Egert’s mechanic had photographed a year earlier at the Sarasota Volvo dealership.

Wallin said the resistor was installed to prevent the unfastened seat belt system warning light from illuminating.

“No other purpose,” he said.

Wallin said that because the pretensioner was not connected, the car’s airbags and seat belts would not function properly, even with new airbags.

“This seat belt is supposed to tighten you in the event of an accident so that you don’t hit the airbag. “The airbags and seat belts work together,” Wallin said.

“I need to replace and repair it immediately because I am putting myself in danger,” Santiago said.

After our conversation, Santiago returned to the Volvo dealership in Tampa to have the repair done. It cost him another $1,500.

“I hope HGreg will take responsibility and pay for some of the damage that I had to repair myself,” Santiago said.

HGreg’s reply

We contacted HGreg on September 19 with a list of questions but received no answers.

A spokesman responded in an email: “Thank you for bringing Mr. Santiago’s purchase to our attention. We will contact the customer directly.”

More than a month after receiving this response, Santiago stated that he had not heard from anyone at the company.

“They need to be held accountable for this because we are talking about people’s lives while they are on the road,” Santiago said.

If you notice that the airbag or seat belt pretensioner systems in a used vehicle purchased in Florida are not functioning properly, you can report it to the service center. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

You can check whether your used car’s airbag has deployed for free by contacting Carfax using this link.

You can also email the I-Team at [email protected] if you believe you were sold a used car in Florida without working safety devices.