As anyone who's blown an airbag knows, replacing them is expensive. Apparently more so in Europe, because, according to the TSA Blog from the folks at the Transportation Security Administration, a lot of Europeans are flying over here, buying the new bag, putting it in their checked luggage and flying home.
Trouble is that airbag actuators are on the list of hazardous materials prohibited from transport aboard passenger aircraft.
How come? Well, the same reason that Honda has recalled 800,000 of their cars and that now-retired Car and Driver Editor-at-Large Patrick Bedard pointed out that the airbag is the first safety device to carry a warning label that you could die using it properly.
Namely...it's an explosive that blows the bag (similar to a solid rocket booster, the TSA Blog tells us).
Not safe in the cargo hold of an airliner...any sensible person can see that. But inches away from your face and chest? There's another agency of the government that has made that mandatory for the past 18 years.
