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GM will no longer allow fleet buyers to skip out on side curtain airbags


TomServo92

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I think fleet's should have the same safety equipment that the rest of the cars out there. To me rental fleets get run harder than cars owned, because they aren't left with the bill if something happens or breaks.

 

Also, I don't think they will resell very well because they don't have the added security. Also there is the possibility of a law suit because the driver in the rental car was involved in an accident and a passenger dies because the car didn't have the air bags on the side.

 

Oh well either pay up front or pay later, it's their choice.

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I think fleet's should have the same safety equipment that the rest of the cars out there. To me rental fleets get run harder than cars owned, because they aren't left with the bill if something happens or breaks.

 

Also, I don't think they will resell very well because they don't have the added security. Also there is the possibility of a law suit because the driver in the rental car was involved in an accident and a passenger dies because the car didn't have the air bags on the side.

 

Oh well either pay up front or pay later, it's their choice.

 

Does Ford allow fleet buyers to delete airbags?

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The sad thing is that these rental queens usually end up in the used car pool hawked by the "auto mega mall" and "used car king" to an unsuspecting sector of the public that thinks they are saving thousands. These same customers are usually the ones that then go on to sue the manufacturer for not having these safety items on the vehicle in the first place after they have an accident, fueled up by ambulance chasing lawyers that use the same tactics as the "auto mega mall" and "used car king" in their advertising.

 

A vicious circle that I applaud GM for trying to break.

Edited by twintornados
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You're joking right?

 

In regards to the inclusion of side curtain and front seat airbags as standard equipement (aka: The topic of this article) .....uh.....no.

 

My 2004.5 Spectra came with *both*.

 

And from what I read online, I think Kia's whole line had them standard by probably 2007, or 2008 at the latest.

 

Give GM their props though.... they were on the forefront of airbags WAY back in the early 70's with the first production release of airbag technology. Too bad they didn't keep up at it.

 

And Ford was actually experimenting with airbags even earlier than GM, but didn't take it as far.

 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag

-Ovaltine

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In regards to the inclusion of side curtain and front seat airbags as standard equipement (aka: The topic of this article) .....uh.....no.

 

My 2004.5 Spectra came with *both*.

 

And from what I read online, I think Kia's whole line had them standard by probably 2007, or 2008 at the latest.

 

Give GM their props though.... they were on the forefront of airbags WAY back in the early 70's with the first production release of airbag technology. Too bad they didn't keep up at it.

 

And Ford was actually experimenting with airbags even earlier than GM, but didn't take it as far.

 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag

-Ovaltine

 

What are you talking about? The article pointed out that GM allowed Enterprise to OPT OUT of curtain/side airbags to save money. This was safety equipment that was standard on retail vehicles.

 

And wow the Spectra has side curtain and side impact airbags! Too bad that vehicle's crash test scores are bottom of the barrel for its size class.

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The Autoblog article is somewhat misleading in using the phrase "Little known fact..."

 

For 2006-2009 Chevy Impalas, RPO Code AK5, Air bags, dual-stage frontal, driver and right-front

passenger, deletes head curtain side-impact air bags, is clearly indicated as an option for 'fleet and government order types' in the order guide. A quick perusal of the 2008 Impala order guide for instance hardly suggests that it's "little known." Fleet customers also had the option of deleting OnStar and XM Satellite Radio as well.

 

Again, primary issue here isn't the fact that Enterprise (or any other rental, commerical, or gummint fleet customer) exercised that option, but that it wasn't communicated to secondhand purchasers.

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