LAKE WORTH, Fla. — The I-Team has been warning consumers about potential airbag and seatbelt problems in previously crashed cars sold on used car lots.
We reported how a 23-year-old mother died when a counterfeit airbag exploded and how one customer bought two used cars from the same dealership, which were determined to have disabled airbag and seatbelt systems.
Now we’re sharing the story of another woman who complained to the Florida Attorney General’s Office, after she said they refused to fix issues with her safety equipment.
“I personally will not drive it”
Jessica Smith Dos Santos agreed to start her 2021 Silverado pickup for us but wouldn’t take it for a drive.
“I personally will not drive it because I know the risk I'm taking, and I have two children. I'm just not willing to take that risk,” Jessica said.
Jessica and her husband Jose Luis bought the used truck in 2022 from HGreg Nissan in Delray Beach, FL, and were told it had been in a previous crash.
Records show the former rental truck was in two accidents, including a crash in New York months before Jessica bought it.
A photo obtained by the I-Team of the truck before it was sold at auction shows a wire coming from the truck’s steering wheel after it crashed, but Carfax and Auto Check reports don’t indicate airbags previously deployed.
“A couple of months after owning it, the sensors started going off. And they wouldn’t stop,” Jessica said.
Jessica took the truck to the service department at her local Chevy dealer.
Text message and email from dealership detail issues
“Their response was your airbag system is basically defective,” she said.
A text from her technician said, “The airbags all deployed causing the squib connectors to burn. Considering the hack job that was performed, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s actually missing airbags also.”
“That was kind of a bombshell to us, 'cause we had just spent about $30,000 on a truck,” Jessica said.
She later got photos and an email from the Chevrolet dealership service manager.
“You can see the cut wires on the SRS harness. The system may or may not work on the driver’s side, but definitely will not work on the passenger side. The airbag and pretensioner are affected,” the email said.
“They were very, very clear that this vehicle is dangerous, and it needed to be fixed and their advice was to take it back to the person that sold it to you because that was not right,” Jessica said.
Jessica said the estimated repair cost was between $1,700 and $4,000.
Since she bought the truck, she has been making monthly payments.
“How many out there are they not catching?”
Jessica bought the vehicle from HGreg, which has 32 dealerships in the United States and Canada.
That’s the same company that we reported sold Ron Egert two used Volvo S60s with non-functioning safety equipment.
A technician’s report said the restraint module in one of his cars, which controls the seatbelt pretension, had been tampered with.
The connector was not plugged in and a resistor was shoved into connector pins.
The other car’s report said the driver’s airbag was rusted and had markings from a junkyard.
“If you get two in a row, how many out there are they not catching?” Egert said.
Hgreg’s spokesperson said the company “only purchases vehicles through the most reputable action companies” and “conducts a multi-point inspection,” which includes “a review of diagnostic indicators.” And would not sell a vehicle if HGreg believes the airbags would not operate as intended.
“If HGreg is truly not aware, then they need to be aware, period. They need to be aware that they’re putting families at risk,” Jessica said. “I'd be curious to see what kind of inspections they actually do for the safety equipment that their customers are going to be sitting behind.”
Jessica said when she took her truck back, HGreg had sold the dealership to a new owner, and she said she didn’t have any luck when she contacted other HGreg locations.
Complaint sent to Attorney General
After she said she got no response, Jessica wrote a complaint to the Florida Attorney General’s Office last October, which we obtained through an open records request.
“The wiring harness for the airbag should have been replaced but instead was spliced, which compromises the function of both the airbags and the restraint system,” Jessica wrote in the complaint.
She said she never heard back from the AG’s Office.
“There’s been no phone call and no email,” Jessica said.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said, “The complaint was referred to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles,” but a spokesperson for that agency wrote, “We have checked our records and do not have record of receiving the complaint.”
An HGreg spokesperson told the I-Team the company was also unaware of the issue. He also said before they received the car, it was inspected by another dealership that didn’t identify a problem with the airbag.
After we started asking questions, HGreg agreed to pay to repair Jessica’s truck or buy it back at the original price.
“I want nothing to do with this truck. I want the loan to go away. I want the truck to go away,” Jessica said.
If you are considering buying a used car or have recently purchased one, Carfax will let you see if your airbag previously deployed for free.
If you have purchased a used car and discovered the airbag system was tampered with or non-functional, email the I-Team at adam@abcactionnews.com
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