Online giant eBay to ban airbags and related parts in safety crackdown
eBay is implementing a ban on airbags and other crucial components, as it looks to help reduce injuries from counterfeit items.
The global Takata airbag recall which impacted more than 100 million vehicles served as a wake-up call to the automotive industry about how the safety devices could turn deadly if manufactured incorrectly, and now online giant eBay has made it harder for potentially lethal car parts to be sold.
This week, eBay announced that from September 24, 2026, it will no longer allow the sale of vehicle airbags, airbag inflators, and steering wheel airbag covers on its platform.
“This decision was made following a comprehensive review of the risks these products may pose to eBay users,” the company said in a brief statement.
While it made no explicit mention of its reasons behind the change, a recent Wall Street Journal report, citing information from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), claimed at least 10 deaths have occurred in the US from counterfeit airbags.
These airbags came from companies which didn’t test their airbags against the same standards as vehicle manufacturers, leading to failures in which the airbag inflators would rupture, sending shrapnel flying into the occupants.
The counterfeit items were found to be fitted to vehicles after repairs were carried out, often by large companies who were unaware they were not genuine parts.
With this becoming a rising issue, it’s understood eBay’s move to ban the sale of airbags comes to protect the public, as it cannot control every product which appears on its platform.
There will still be certain airbag-related items allowed on eBay from later this month when the ban takes effect, such as airbag control units, impact sensors, diagnostic modules and passenger sensors, however anything to do with the direct protection of occupants will have to be removed.
It’s understood there have been no deaths in Australia as a result of counterfeit airbags.
Approximately 4.1 million cars in Australia were impacted by the Takata recall, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) declaring in late 2022 that all faulty devices in affected vehicles had been replaced.
However, this data included vehicles which were written-off, scrapped or unregistered for more than two years.
