Over 10,000 cars in Yuma currently have airbags in need of replacement

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey recently declared June as Airbag Recall Repair Month in the state, and getting your car's airbag checked could save your life - 13 On Your Side's Luis Lopez reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Right now you could be driving with a faulty airbag, and if you are, you’re definitely not alone.

There's currently over over 10,000 cars throughout Yuma with recalled airbags.

Thankfully it’s easy to check if your car has one, as experts, like Victor Cerda of Chapman auto in Yuma, are trying to bring awareness to the issue.

“If you don’t replace airbags that are defective instead of saving lives, it could be the other way around,” Cerda said.

The issue is also going on throughout the state.

As the organization ‘Check to Protect’ says over 190,000 cars in Arizona are also affected.

Chapman service manager Ken Avrett says that leaves them at risk of making already dangerous car accidents, into potentially deadly ones.

“Not in all cases but in some cases if the airbag deploys, it can actually have pieces of metal or shrapnel that comes out, and it can actually do damage to the person,” Avrett said.

Check to Protect also says certain populations are less likely to get the issue fixed.

“In hispanic communities, and in places where the second language is english, when low income communities like Yuma, those are the least people that are going to the dealership and take care of the recall,” Cerda said.

Thankfully, if you find out your car has a bad airbag, in most cases it’s a free repair from a dealership.

“Some of these are taking as little as an hour to get it over with, so it’s not a whole lot of time in a majority of the cases,” Cerda said.

To check if your car has a bad airbag all you have to do is go to checktoprotect.org, type in your car’s vin number, and it’ll tell you if you need a new airbag.