Counterfeit airbags: how to verify a genuine original equipment replacement

What NHTSA has found in replacement airbags

NHTSA issued a counterfeit airbag advisory on October 10, 2012. Its testing showed the fakes malfunctioning consistently, from not deploying at all to throwing metal shrapnel. The agency put the problem at under 0.1 percent of the US fleet and urged owners and repairers to use only certified, original equipment replacement parts.

The newer problem is deadlier. In April 2026 NHTSA banned the import and sale of frontal driver airbag inflators marked “DTN60DB”, its first vehicle equipment ban in over two decades. By NHTSA’s September 3, 2026 update, 11 people had died and three were severely injured in 14 crashes where a replacement airbag carried one of these inflators. Instead of inflating the bag, they ruptured and sent metal fragments into the driver.

Most of those cars had been in an earlier crash and had their original airbags replaced, and some lost theirs to theft. The known ruptures are in the Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata and Chevrolet Equinox, and NHTSA says nothing indicates the problem stops there.

How to verify a genuine original equipment airbag replacement

Start with the number. GM tells its own dealers to order restraint parts by VIN: a 2014 GM program bulletin for the airbag sensing and diagnostic module says to use the VIN and GM’s electronic parts catalog to order it. Our post on airbag and SRS parts by VIN explains why these parts follow the build rather than the model.

Then the source. Buy the part from a franchised dealer’s parts department, or have the dealer do the work. NHTSA’s own rule for who needs an inspection is a car with an airbag deployment since 2020 that was not repaired by the manufacturer’s dealership. GM’s 2012 bulletin said owners whose airbags were replaced with genuine GM airbags at an authorized dealer were not at risk.

Then the paperwork. Keep the invoice with the part number, the supplier and the VIN on it. If you ever sell the car, that invoice answers the question the next buyer should ask.

Why the part number alone doesn’t settle it

GM’s 2012 counterfeit bulletin says the fake modules it saw were pieced together from reclaimed components plus new or remanufactured parts. A fake may carry a correct part number or correct molding marks, because part of it may be a reclaimed original component. GM told technicians to rely on visual signs instead: an emblem that doesn’t match in size, shape or color, poorly defined “airbag” lettering, or an inflator labeled with a different carmaker’s name than the emblem.

Those checks happen with the module removed, and that is a technician’s job. NHTSA says owners should under no circumstances inspect the airbag or take the steering wheel apart, and that people have been killed working on their own airbags.

One check is yours. GM notes the airbag light should come on at key-on and go off once the car starts. No light at all may mean someone disabled the bulb.

No salvage units, no online bargains

NHTSA’s 2012 list of owners who should have their car inspected included anyone who bought a replacement airbag from eBay or another non-certified source, especially for under $400, and anyone with a salvage, rebuilt or reconstructed title. The 2026 guidance points the same way, toward the dealer.

A recall check won’t catch a fake either. NHTSA points out that the DTN60DB inflators are aftermarket equipment not tied to the VIN, so a VIN search can’t tell you whether a car has one. Only an inspection can.

The control module may need programming

Ford’s collision newsletter, walking through the SRS of a 2020 F-150 from the Ford Workshop Manual, states that the restraints control module requires programmable module installation with a diagnostic scan tool. Count it as part of the job. Ask before the work starts whether the shop has the scan tool and the carmaker’s procedure for your model.

If you bought the car used

Get a history report and look for airbag deployments, crashes or total-loss events, reported theft and repairs at non-certified shops. If any of those appear, NHTSA says to have the car inspected by the carmaker’s dealer or a reputable independent mechanic working from its technician guidance. You pay for the inspection, and for the replacement if one is needed. If a DTN60DB inflator turns up, don’t drive the car until genuine parts replace it.

Takata recall replacements were genuine parts and aren’t part of this problem. For a suspect inflator, NHTSA lists Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and its own hotline, 888-327-4236. The Chevrolet catalog and the Hyundai catalog show the genuine module for a given VIN, so the dealer quote and the invoice can be checked against it.