The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "airbag" ...
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Company's Choice Made Cars Less Safe
General Motors removed the side airbags, at request of fleet customers, from the standard package Impalas to save money for these fleet customers. In doing so, they risked the safety of thousands of people. Enterprise Rent-A-Car was one of these fleet customers, who bought “65,000 vehicles” knowing that the airbags had been removed. Enterprise not only rented these out, but also sold them online using false advertising. After this was revealed, Enterprise and many car dealerships issued apologies and bought back these vehicles above book value.
Tags: automobiles; cars; Chevy; used cars; safety feature; consumers; transportation; restraint system; build sheet; auto safety
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Fatal Failures
"The Star was the first newspaper to discover the extent of the problem of airbags not deploying in frontal crashes. The newspaper also found that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was doing little to protect the public."
Tags: airbags; transportation; automobile safety; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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Certified Dangerous: Used Cars' Airbags
An investigation of 1650 consumer complaints about the failure of airbags to deploy during car accidents such as head-on collisions, rollovers and broadside crashes. Some airbags are not replaced when the vehicle is being fixed after an accident, leaving the driver more succeptible to injury.
Tags: airbag; safety; t-bone; traffic; ford; gm; honda; kia; mitsubishi; nissan; volkswagen; auto accidents
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Fatal Assumption
Expert auto repair surgeons lure customers into thinking they have a safe car by creating dummy airbags covers, but the bags are not inside. The tape exposes the case of a 50-year-old woman who was in a car accident and her air bag never deployed. The airbag had been cut out by the dealer who sold her the car. Dealers save thousands of dollars and that could cost lives. Many other cases like these are investigated by the news team. The tape shows how to tell a fake from a real air bag. It also holds a few of the liars accountable for making buyers think the cars have air bags.
Tags: TAPE; airbag; car; automobile; auto; auto dealer; car dealer; car accident; accident; fake airbag; Washington State Patrol Fatal Incident Report; Department of Licensing; collision; car crash; missing airbag.
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"Airbags for sale"
When WINK-TV received a tip that a local teenager had sold the airbag out of his car for $900, the station's investigation revealed a troubling trend. People were selling their airbags -- 732 airbag auctions on eBay -- and often shipping them via the mail, UPS or FedEx without dismantling the discharge device. A fire marshal detonated an improperly packaged airbag to show the risk.
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The Widower's Tale
The New Yorker investigates the death of Tracy Thomas, a six months pregnant woman, in a car crash in New Jersey in 1997. The report depicts her and her husband as belonging to "the first generation of middle-class African-American people...." The story reveals that one month before she died, her husband "had increased the death benefit of her life-insurance policy." The reporter uncovers a belated doctors' conclusion: "Mrs. Thomas died of compression of the neck by the hands of another." The investigation describes how the widower has tried to prove that his wife's death is related to air-bag injuries, and reports on his lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company..
Tags: murder; strangulation; Cape May Court House; police; forensic doctors
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Crash Test Kids: Air Bags, Dead Children, and the warning that came too late
This story exposes neglect and disingenuousness on the part of the automobile industry to emphasize the potentially life-threatening risk airbags in commercial vehicles could pose to small or child passengers. Similar neglect was exhibited by government regulators and even safety advocates, fearing a backlash against the controversial technology and delays in implementing these devices that they say have saved lives.
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No title (id: 13099)
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems Inc. has a history of accidents in Arizona which have continued even after regulator's investigations, warnings and finings. An Arizona Republic reveals explosions, fire and chemical spills, and accidents injuring and killing workers at the world's second largest air-bag manufacturing company. (October 8, 1995)
Tags: Wagner Plant and factory regulation Occupational hazards OSHA 4 pgs.