Are any Buick Reattas equipped with the Takata Grenade Airbags?

Were any of the Reattas equipped with the Takata Grenade Airbags? If so, which ones? I have a 1991 Reatta Convertible and wish to know if I have to worry about this.

Thanks?

HRP

Only polo green verts got them.

The air bags, made by a major parts supplier, Takata, were installed in cars from model year 2002 through 2008

No Buicks involved.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/10/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-takata-air-bag-recall/index.htm

Now that's funny right there!

Thank you Mc_Reatta for keeping us grounded.

With our airbags nearing 25 years old, I would have to wonder what the odds are that they would activate if needed.

I had that thought about 5 years ago and removed the airbag and changed to 89 steering wheel.

Apparently, they are probably still OK.

Airbags. What is their life expectancy? When airbags started to appear in vehicles in the 1990’s manufacturers were not sure of their life expectancy or how

long they would be serviceable due to concerns that the chemicals used in

the propellant may deteriorate with heat and age.

Volvo and Mercedes-Benz had estimates of between ten and fifteen years

originally and with cars built back in the 1990’s now coming under

scrutiny, as far as safety is concerned, the industry experts are revising their estimates.

Autoliv, the safety specialist, has tested airbags that have been in vehicles

under normal operating conditions for up to twelve years and they have

performed within specifications.

Volvo, who have bought back vehicles from customers and tested them, have

changed their recommendation, firstly to fifteen years then to twenty years as

they have found the components and chemicals to be stable.

Mercedes-Benz originally stated the airbag should be replaced during normal

service at the customer’s cost after fifteen years but both Mercedes-Benz and

Audi now say the units should last the life of the vehicle.

Leo Knowlden, a field performance assessment engineer for General Motors, said that GM has used glass-to-metal seals on all its airbags since the very beginning. A plastic-to-metal seal is more likely to accumulate moisture over the years, Knowlden says. This can lead to corrosion of the electrical pins in the igniter and potentially lead to a less responsive airbag.

As proof of the lifetime durability of GM airbags, Knowlden pointed to a 1992 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study, where a rusty 1972 Chevrolet Impala was crash-tested and both the driver's airbag and passenger airbag successfully deployed. That Impala was one of the first 1,000 airbag-equipped cars made by GM.

And similarly, "airbags from 1990s vehicles are operating correctly in today's accidents," says Campbell.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) knows of successful deployments of airbags more than 30 years after production, says Jose Ucles, a NHTSA spokesperson.

I had that thought about 5 years ago and removed the airbag and changed to 89 steering wheel.

That would never fly in PA, wouldn't pass state inspection. The 88/89 wheel is so much better looking.

I see MC beat me to the punch. I had seen Volvo's study on older airbags stilll operating correctly. Was both impressive and reassuring. I was not aware of MB's work on this or the 72 Chevy findings.

I think concern over the SIR not functioning is overstated on vehicles of the Reatta's vintage. If anything I would be more comfortable with the Reatta SIR system than many newer ones given the apparent propensity of car makers to cut corners in the past decade.

Seems that over time standards are simply not maintained. Now we see the results of that mentality with the current air bag recall and the recent massive GM iginition recall, among others - and there have been a lot. I don't know if this stuff is a case of corporate profits over safety or if the people running these companies are just that stupid and prone to caving to group-think that prevents proper action being taken before it becomes a PR nightmare.

More and more I believe it to be the latter. These morons can't possibly believe they will escape scrutiny and culpability for such bad decisions in this age of media exposes and social media driven public outrage. They might have pulled that off in the 70's with stuff like the Pinto, but even that came to light eventually.

Eh, got on a rant there. Bottom line, as Reatta owners we should relish the fact we own solid well made cars that were made at a time when these shortcomings weren't seemingly so rampant on the part of car makers. They also lack much of the spy-tech (yes 90/91's do have a black box in the SIR system that record operational parameters at time of impact) found in newer cars that can and eventually will be used against the driver as the mission creep of government and insurance companies goes on unabated all in the name if "safety" (read: extracting more money).

Cynical as ever.

KDirk