Selling the "birthmobile"

MG-McAnick · July 4, 2016, 9:45pm

The caller wanted to save the passenger front seat of the Volvo his nine year old some was born in for sentimental reasons. My guess is it was not the kid who was sentimental.

Click and Clack suggested that he buy an identical replacement seat from a salvage yard, and sell the car with the “new” seat. Then one of them said that that might not work because salvage yards wouldn’t sell a seat that contained an airbag as the Volvo’s did.

If salvage yards won’t sell airbags, then why are airbags listed on www.car-part.com ? Why have I been able to buy and install several sets of them from salvage yards?

SHIPPING them may be another matter… Many carriers have an issue with carrying explosives, even though we know that they won’t pop unless properly provoked.

oldbodyman · July 6, 2016, 2:28am

Yes you can use a air bag from a salvage yard as you know. I have had them shipped by UPS and Fed X. Its a myth that wont die that you cant buy and install a salvaged air bag.
In this case what I would do is buy the used seat with out the air bag. Then reinstall the air bag in the new seat . By the way did you notice I did not say used air bag? A used air bag is one that been deployed.

mark9207 · July 6, 2016, 2:28am

I have purchased and installed airbags from salvage yards. I do know that the Postal Service will not ship them because they are considered an explosive. Don’t know about other carriers.

George_San_Jose1 · July 6, 2016, 2:28am

Maybe it’s just me., but for the life of me, I can’t see how the kid would want to keep that seat! In his university dorm room? I don’t think so. The caller should take the appropriate photos for posterity, and then just sell the Volvo and be done with it. Just my opinion.

cdayrad · July 6, 2016, 2:28am

As for the inability to use a salvage airbag . . . total myth. The key behind it is that it must not have been deployed and reconditioned. Working in the collision repair industry for 16 years, I have seen a shift in the parts replacement paradigm. At first, shops and Insurance companies alike stood their ground and said absolutely NO. Now with the increase parts cost and people wanting to keep their cars longer due to economic conditions, the shops and insurance companies are willing to look at salvage airbags and other safety related items in order to save the car from being a total loss. After all, MOST salvage parts are OEM parts.

MG-McAnick · July 6, 2016, 2:29am

I completely agree with GeorgeSanJose.

I had a girlfriend once who was born (not conceived) in the back seat of a '53 Chevy. It was 30 miles to the hospital, and they just didn’t make it. I owned one, briefly, when I was dating her. She was 27 at the time. She wanted to see what that seat was like to get a perspective of what her mother had gone through. That’s about all the sentimentality I think the kid who was born in the Volvo could possibly have.