Junkyards no longer selling airbags?
 

I went to the junkyard the other day and there was a fresh new sign on printer paper posted up that said they are not selling any airbags at this time. It was not there when I went the previous week. I asked the guy at the gate and he said all the local LKQs were instructed not to sell airbags. I believe that had been the case with seat airbags for at least the past few years, but steering wheel airbags were fine. Note that it didn't say "due to CA law" or some such wording.

Anyone know anything about this? Recently they also stopped selling first aid kits. When I asked about that one I was told it was due to "liability". I'd think someone is more likely to get injured from a failing suspension or brake part sold by them than using an expired bandage. I do not have the statistics to support that supposition, but I would be happy to place a fairly large wager on it if there are any takers.

This was in SoCal, btw.

About 5 years ago I pulled a mint condition steering wheel from a W126 at Ecology Auto Parts in Phoenix, Arizona. I went to pay for it and they told me they couldn't sell it with the horn pad because it had an airbag in it.

I don’t think any reputable recycler sells used airbags since the Takata recall went over 10M vehicles. It’s been over a year for NorCal Pick-n-Pulls. Airbags aren’t in the price list anymore.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon

Been like that for the last few years here in FL.
If I had to guess it started 3 years ago

LKQ/PYP/Ecology is a large nationwide salvage yard/recycling company surprised it took them so long to catch up in SoCal.

Airbag pranks video if you have a few min to spare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YG7L_D_lfQ

You also can't ship an airbag legally and cheaply if you find one for sale on eBay. Not that the letter of the law stopped anyone.

When I swapped out the 4 spoke steering wheel for a 3 spoke on my w203 I had to be careful to avoid the Takata airbags. MB installed both Takata and Autoliv airbags in it's cars at the same time and the only way to know which one you have is to look up the vin or read the fine print on the back of the airbag.
https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/recall

Ive watched some of those before and cant say it would be to fun for the pranked individual ,if youve ever had back problems you can see how this would put you in the hospital.

Heard a story on the radio today about the expanded Takata recall. An additional 3.3M airbags across 14 makes. Puts the local JY decision a bit more into perspective.

https://www.consumerreports.org/recalls/takata-recalls-millions-more-airbags/

Luckily I was able to get a nice late W202 airbag with chrome star before this happened, also upgraded the worn rubber steering wheel in my Nissan truck to a thick, leather wrapped Altima wheel.

https://i.imgur.com/wdhMBfP.jpg

Looked great, but have since swapped for a non-airbag wheel that looks even better.

https://i.imgur.com/4HljgZk.png