McLaren airbag replacement

[MclaesLaren]

Read on the net somewhere that is mandatory to replace all airbags after 10 years of car age. That will be next year for the first MP4-12C.

So, is there anyone that can confirm this? And if so, what price will such service cost?

[johnnyreggae]

Isn't this a discredited potential problem from the early days of airbags - my understanding is no-one has to change airbags

[PrestigeDale]

I wouldnt bother, they still function perfectly fine.

[Liokault]

I used to work in airbags.

The old style airbags that had an explosive propellant were only warranted for that propellant to last for 10 years, it’s probably ok, but over time the effectiveness reduces to a degree.

Newer airbags use compressed gas as a propellant, this shown no degradation, so unless you have a car from the very early days of airbags, you don’t need to worry.

I think you will be ok.

[supersport]

This came up recently, I started a thread.

My F430 has a sticker saying expires November 2020. I got the same answers and that lead me to do some further digging.

From Ferrari at least, replacement air bags are about £10,000 which is plain stupid and I don't think anyone ever does it. They also stopped putting these stickers in not much later after my car was built.

The consensus I found seemed to imply that it was thought in the early days that they wouldn't last. Of course I don't think you see these stickers on everyday cars which have had them an awful lot longer.