Airbag

Why is safety important when packaging hazardous material for shipping?

A hazardous material (Haz Mat) means a substance or material, which has been determined by the Secretary of Transportation to be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported. In automotive recycling the hazardous materials include:



Air Bag Inflators: Consisting of a casing containing an igniter, a booster material, and a gas generate. An airbag inflator is a gas generator used to inflate an air bag in a supplemental restraint system in a motor vehicle.



Air Bag Module: Consisting of the air bag inflator plus an inflatable air bag assembly.



Seat-belt Pre-tensioner: Contains similar hazardous materials and is used in the operation of a seat-belt restraining system in a motor vehicle.

Haz Mat Employees are required to be certified in proper shipping and packaging of hazardous material such as non-deployed airbags at least every three (3) years. Training material is available on CD from Sue Schauls or online courses are available at ARA University http://www.arauniversity.org/

Sue Schauls Consulting can provide employee airbag training workshops at your facility for the auto salvage required training during your I-CARE cetification audit. Two sessions can be administered to facilitate a productive work day while reducing the cost of sending employees to off-site training.

ARA supports the use of non-deployed, OEM airbag modules as viable, economical, and safe alternatives to the use of new, more costly OEM airbags when properly evaluated, handled, stored, shipped, and professionally installed. The U.S. DOT requires that anyone involved with the handling and shipping of airbags, including delivery drivers, be trained and certified. CAR members must verify appropriate DOT training of employees associated with the shipping of airbags. Airbag inflators, airbag modules, and seatbelt pre-tensioners fall under DOT’s list of Class 9 Hazardous Materials. This classification is DOT’s lest restrictive, and applied to items containing minimal amounts of explosive material. Training is required to package, label and ship Class 9 hazardous materials.

Haz Mat Shipping

49 CFR 171 requires specific training material for the preparation and shipping of hazardous materials specifically airbag modules and seat belt pretensioners:



Identify Hazardous Material



Training, Shipper, Employee, Employer



Preparing Haz Mat for Shipping



Penalties for Non-compliance



Testing for Certification

Airbag Resources is an exclusive software designed to enable ARA members to train and certify employees, inspect and track OEM non-deployed airbag modules effectively and efficiently within their operations. The Airbag Resources site and customized software are provided by ARA Product Services LLC., exclusively for members of the Automotive Recyclers Association.

Airbag Shipping (HazMat) Certification