Toyota airbags $50

We forgot you airbag, have this giftcard

http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/cars/she-bought-her-toyota-for-the-knee-air-bag-but-it-s-not-an-option-1.1779428

Most car shoppers probably give little thought to the knee air bags in some vehicles, but Alexandra Bilinski made sure when she bought her 2010 Toyota Matrix in May that a knee bag was listed as a safety feature.

It's right there on the window sticker.

Unfortunately, it's not in the car. Nor is there a knee bag in any other Matrix in the world.

Bilinski, 54, of Riverhead -- who has had a knee injury and surgery -- learned the truth in January when Toyota quietly sent letters to her and 3,700 other owners of 2010 Matrixes nationwide telling them that the window sticker contained a misprint. With the letter was a $50 American Express gift card as a token of compensation.

But Bilinski, a teacher, and her husband, Jerry, 55, don't want a gift card; they want what they thought they had bought -- a car with a knee air bag, which, while not required by law, helps to prevent lower leg injuries and helps the steering wheel air bag in restraining the passenger in a frontal crash.

"In my opinion," Alexandra Bilinski wrote in an e-mail to Newsday, "this is more than just a recall problem but rather outright fraud and a deceptive sales practice that I believe may rise to a crime in New York State."

Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons in California said the bag cannot be retrofitted because the car wasn't designed to have one and therefore lacks the required sensors and wiring.

All that Toyota can do for the Bilinskis, Lyons said, is help them trade their Matrix for another model, such as a Corolla, that has a driver's knee bag.

Jerry Bilinski said he'll await details before agreeing to that. "Are they willing to let me trade it in at full price?" he asked. "I mean, I can go anywhere and trade it in."

He'd also like a vehicle not subject to a recall -- as was their Matrix and the Camry he drives, for possible unintended acceleration.

Alexandra Bilinski still drives the car, but the couple has complained to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office.

They haven't spent the $50.

"I suggested to my wife that she buy some sort of knee brace with it," Jerry Bilinski said.

50 bucks worth of bubble wrap?

Wow. People are stupid.

Who is stupid - the people who actually believed what was on the Monroney, the people at Toyota who put a non-existent safety feature on it, or the person who actually thought that a $50 gift card would make up for the missing safety feature?

This is simple consumer fraud in NY, and the purchasers ought to be able to get their full money back. I'm sure that the AG will be all over it in no time flat. He already got Toyota to pay for NY customers' rental car and other incidental expenses related to the accelerator recalls.

Toyota sure is having a heck of a time here lately...first their cars will randomly accelerate you into E36 M3 and then you don't have the safety equipment they said you have.

Oh damn...imagine one of those things accelerating into something and the person injures their knee because of no knee bags they thought they had...what a law suit that would be.

pigeon wrote: Who is stupid - the people who actually believed what was on the Monroney, the people at Toyota who put a non-existent safety feature on it, or the person who actually thought that a $50 gift card would make up for the missing safety feature?

All three of them. But my favorite is the woman who makes her choice of car based on a knee airbag. What's the world coming too?

I've never even heard of a knee airbag.

can't we just let Darwin win a few?

Locally Toyota sent a letter to all new Toyota owners saying how they want to keep all of their customers happy. To express their sincerity they wrote that all you had to do was take in the enclosed coupon to any Toyota service center for a free oil change. Problem is-they didn't enclose a coupon.

I think it was smart of her to choose a car with a knee airbag - article said she had prior knee problems and she was just looking for protection of her knees. They're good for protecting knees (duh!) as well as making sure you don't submarine too much in a crash. My 7 has them - I hope to never use them but I like knowing they're there.

there's a little voice in my head that thinks people depend on airbags too much & they don't need to be as careful drivers because they have them....

besides in the case, you think she would have bought a larger, heaver car for "safety"

Grtechguy wrote: there's a little voice in my head that thinks people depend on airbags too much & they don't need to be as careful drivers because they have them....

13 years ago, I T-boned a minivan that made a left in front of me. I was in a '91 Integra - no airbags of any kind. The only injuries I had were torqued wrists. The cop on the scene asked if I was OK, and couldn't believe I was, for the most part, unhurt, because I didn't have airbags. My seatbelt did the job.

""

Grtechguy wrote: besides in the case, you think she would have bought a larger, heaver car for "safety"

Yay! She actually made an intelligent choice, rather than being a Sheeple that thinks bigger is safer.

right, I'm all for seat belts.....multiple air bags? not so much.

RealMiniDriver wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: there's a little voice in my head that thinks people depend on airbags too much & they don't need to be as careful drivers because they have them....

13 years ago, I T-boned a minivan that made a left in front of me. I was in a '91 Integra - no airbags of any kind. The only injuries I had were torqued wrists. The cop on the scene asked if I was OK, and couldn't believe I was, for the most part, unhurt, because I didn't have airbags. "My seatbelt did the job."

Grtechguy wrote: besides in the case, you think she would have bought a larger, heaver car for "safety"

Yay! She actually made an intelligent choice, rather than being a Sheeple that thinks bigger is safer.

ohh boy.. another user of the word "sheeple"....

I'm glad you're superior to others. It makes me happy inside.

I'm all for having the option of choosing a stripped down car without silly options (power fold down rear seats, power running boards, refrigerated center console), but are you people seriously calling this woman an idiot for choosing a car with advanced safety features? How dare she choose a car that will protect her better in a crash instead of coming up with some crazy method of not ever getting in an accident. And GRTechGuy - you do realize that some people are in accidents that are not their own fault, and thus should not receive a visit from Darwin? This isn't an option to put big puffy pads on the ends of scissors so that some drunk can run around on icy streets and not worry about stabbing himself in the eye when he falls. These are legitimate safety devices that informed purchasers researched, selected and paid for because they want to protect themselves, and were screwed out of them. Just because you think we're fine with 1960's safety doesn't mean everyone thinks that way.

Bob

Schmidlap wrote: I'm all for having the option of choosing a stripped down car without silly options (power fold down rear seats, power running boards, refrigerated center console), but are you people seriously calling this woman an idiot for choosing a car with advanced safety features? How dare she choose a car that will protect her better in a crash instead of coming up with some crazy method of not ever getting in an accident. And GRTechGuy - you do realize that some people are in accidents that are not their own fault, and thus should not receive a visit from Darwin? This isn't an option to put big puffy pads on the ends of scissors so that some drunk can run around on icy streets and not worry about stabbing himself in the eye when he falls. These are legitimate safety devices that informed purchasers researched, selected and paid for because they want to protect themselves, and were screwed out of them. Just because you think we're fine with 1960's safety doesn't mean everyone thinks that way. Bob

A-freaking-men. I'm really shocked by some replies here. This lady picked a pretty sensible car based on a safety feature she wanted rather than jumping into an SUV. We should be applauding her. Sometimes the snobbery and elitism of car people worries me. Every think maybe we're too full of ourselves?

not to jump on the anti-Toyota bandwagon, but WTF

GI_Drewsifer wrote: A-freaking-men. I'm really shocked by some replies here. This lady picked a pretty sensible car based on a safety feature she wanted rather than jumping into an SUV. We should be applauding her. Sometimes the snobbery and elitism of car people worries me. Every think maybe we're too full of ourselves?

Yes I do think so. Part of that's just a symptom of having testosterone and being on the internet, so it really just comes with the territory.

I actually read a book that helped to explain a lot of current attitudes toward driving. It's called "Traffic." Written by Tom Vanderbilt. I highly recommend it.

exactly... I do not begrudge people who buy appliance cars when that is what they want. There ARE non car people out there you know.

This lady did her homework, did not want something huge and hulking, so she bought a car that she thought would best protect her if somebody were to hit her while driving.

I hope Toyota makes good on her (and everyone else) who thought they had one of the safest small cars around.

I don't think being a car person or not has anything to do with it. The unfortunate truth is we (including us car people) have to drive on roads with "idiots" that want to Darwin themselves but unfortunatly they could take one of us with them. Just last week, the fact that I was paying attention and the good brakes on my Miata saved me from being hurt when a lady in a mid-size SUV decided she wanted my spot and turned. Good thing no one was behind me when I locked the brakes up at 70mph to avoid being ran over, me moving over wasn't an option as there was a car there. She never even looked and doesn't know how close she came to hurting me. Take for example my daughter who is a car person and autocrosses and works on her own car some. Side airbags saved her from injury once when someone turned into her on the highway and pushed her into the median, then her car (06 Civic, at the time) hit a culvert and flipped and rolled a couple times stopping on the drivers side in the opposing lane traffic. She crawled out the car with only seatbelt and airbag bruises and a cracked bone in her left index finger which was probably the result of the tuck she learned in driving school. Side curtain airbags saved her from being injured. When she replaced the car (w/an RX8) side curtain airbags was a requirement.

I agree with mad_machine on this lady doing her homework. Not all applaince drivers want a huge hulking vehicle. My wife uses a car as an appliance and doesn't like big cars prefering small to mid-size, partially because she's small (Barely 5-foot tall). She used to drive a Camry and now drives a Sonata.

I opened this thread hoping I could buy an airbag for $50. I thought it would be fun to blow it up... Either way, for whatever reason, if she bought the car based on the fact that it had an airbag, she should either get an airbag put in the car or they should refund her money and she can buy a different car.

13 years ago, I T-boned a minivan that made a left in front of me. I was in a '91 Integra - no airbags of any kind. The only injuries I had were torqued wrists. The cop on the scene asked if I was OK, and couldn't believe I was, for the most part, unhurt, because I didn't have airbags. "My seatbelt did the job."

Good to know. I drive a 91 integra, and yearn for the day when I can say "berkeley it. I'm not locking up the brakes for you." Did yours have the automatic decapitator belt?

RealMiniDriver wrote: Yay! She actually made an intelligent choice, rather than being a Sheeple that thinks bigger is safer.

Thats good stuff Iggy, glad I'm not one of them.

poopshovel wrote:

13 years ago, I T-boned a minivan that made a left in front of me. I was in a '91 Integra - no airbags of any kind. The only injuries I had were torqued wrists. The cop on the scene asked if I was OK, and couldn't believe I was, for the most part, unhurt, because I didn't have airbags. "My seatbelt did the job."

Good to know. I drive a 91 integra, and yearn for the day when I can say "berkeley it. I'm not locking up the brakes for you." Did yours have the automatic decapitator belt?

I can't remember if it had the automatic shoulder belt. If it did, I was also wearing the manual lap belt. Mine was 4 door, if that matters.

ignorant wrote:

RealMiniDriver wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: besides in the case, you think she would have bought a larger, heaver car for "safety"

Yay! She actually made an intelligent choice, rather than being a Sheeple that thinks bigger is safer.

ohh boy.. another user of the word "sheeple".... I'm glad you're superior to others. It makes me happy inside.

Is that an attempt at an insult?

Am I wrong to think most of the GRM members are of the mindset that big vehicles are not safe by virtue of being "big"?

Apparently, my attempt at humor missed.