Mechanic resold used cars with hazardous airbags, feds say. ‘Playing Russian roulette’

An auto mechanic in Pennsylvania was installing counterfeit airbags in used vehicles and placing car buyers at risk, according to federal authorities.

Those airbags — considered hazardous materials — were smuggled in from China in attempt to increase the profits of selling used vehicles, authorities said.

Now the mechanic — Emiliano Rodriguez, 45 — has pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods and two counts of causing the delivery of hazardous materials by air carrier, according to a Feb. 9 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Rodriguez, a citizen of the Dominican Republic who lives in Philadelphia, faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and $50,000 in fines, officials said. He also faces deportation as a non-U.S. citizen.

The defense attorney representing Rodriguez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Feb. 10.

“Counterfeit airbags are playing Russian roulette with the lives of unsuspecting consumers,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in the release. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that counterfeits have consistently been shown to malfunction.”

“Emiliano Rodriguez peddled these airbags for profit, knowing lives would be at risk,” she continued.

Authorities said Rodriguez fraudulently imported the hazardous airbags from about January 2017 through October 2019. He then installed the airbags into salvaged vehicles and sold them to “unsuspecting” buyers, officials said.

In investigating the case, federal agents found more than 450 counterfeit airbags and parts at Rodriguez’s home and business, according to the release.

”Counterfeit airbags could contain substandard and defective parts that created public safety hazards,” prosecutors said in court records. “Such airbags could be incapable of timely inflation, and over inflation that could cause death or serious injury to the vehicle occupants. Counterfeit airbags have exploded and expelled metal shrapnel that impaled drivers and occupants.”

Authorities warn car buyers to only buy vehicles from “reputable dealers.”

“The consequences of not doing so can be dire, including monetary losses or even the loss of life or limb,” Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia William S. Walker said in the release.

The NHTSA believes counterfeit airbags are in less than 0.1% of vehicles in the U.S.

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