Airbag Hazardous Waste Disposal Considerations

This entry explains how and why end-of-life automobile airbags are RCRA hazardous and cannot be discarded with regular waste. Find out how navigate safe airbag disposal. Q&As include:

1. How long have airbags been mandated in US automobiles?

2. How and why are end-of-life automobile airbags a hazardous waste?

3. How and why is the sodium azide in an undeployed airbag an RCRA hazardous waste?

4. Must airbags be removed before automobiles are scrapped?

5. Are airbags easily removed from junked cars?

6. How many airbags does a late-model automobile contain?

7. Can undeployed airbags be recycled rather than destroyed and disposed of?

8. Where can you find advice about hazardous waste disposal of end-of-life airbags?

1. How long have airbags been mandated in US automobiles?

Supplemental restraint systems (aka airbags) have been required in all new passenger vehicles since 1989 in the United States. Since then, a good many of these vehicles have seen the end of their useful lives, predictably winding up in vehicle dismantling facilities (aka, “scrapyards” or, more prosaically, “junkyards”) for recycling. Once there, undeployed airbags present significant safety and environmental concerns that require hazardous waste management.

2. How and why are end-of-life automobile airbags a hazardous waste?

Most airbag modules include inflators that depend on sodium azide for generating the gas that “instantly” fills the bag in the event of a crash. When an airbag is deployed, sodium azide is converted into harmless nitrogen gas by other chemicals in the inflator. For that reason, a fully deployed airbag can simply be handled as solid waste and disposed of in the garbage, and safe airbag disposal is required. However, in an undeployed airbag, the sodium azide remains extant and therefore poses a danger (see Q.3).

3. How and why is the sodium azide in an undeployed airbag a RCRA hazardous waste?

Sodium azide in isolation is toxic, dangerous to inhale, and can burn exposed skin. Mixed with water, it forms hydrazoic acid, which is also extremely toxic and can enter groundwater when hazardous waste removal precautions are inadequate or nonexistent, emphasizing the need for safe airbag disposal.

Incidental exposure to sodium azide can occur when untrained workers dismantle vehicles in such a way as to cause the airbag suddenly to deploy. Undeployed airbag modules can also explode when exposed to the heat in an auto shredder.

4. Must airbags be removed before automobiles are scrapped?

There is no national policy about hazardous waste disposal pertaining to airbag removal from vehicles before they are recycled. In fact, the EPA allows individual states to decide whether airbags should be considered hazardous waste at all. Many states do—Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin among them.

For example, Oregon has required since 2005 that all airbags containing sodium azide be deployed or removed from a vehicle before it’s wrecked or dismantled, promoting safe airbag disposal. But there are no prevalent state-approved practices that would point the way to a national policy.

In the meantime, vehicle dismantlers are asked to remove airbags before they sell scrapped vehicles to recycling centers. But cars commonly arrive at recycling centers with undeployed airbag modules still intact.

5. Are airbags easily removed from junked cars?

No. They’re difficult to access; they require specialized knowledge and skill to handle safely; and so, removing them from a vehicle is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, the propensity is not to remove them, so that many airbags go through the shredder, during which they get deployed from the ensuing friction and pressure, haphazardly discharging the aforementioned sodium azide into the local environment. (N.B. Don’t get caught doing this.)

6. How many airbags does a late-model automobile contain?

Where just two airbags were typical in a vehicle years ago—one in the steering wheel and another in the dashboard forward the right passenger seat—the number of airbags has increased voluminously since 1989. Nowadays, there can be side-impact airbags, curtain airbags, head-protection airbags, front center airbags, knee airbags, and more. Thereby, a late model vehicle headed for dismantling might have as many as 12 airbags requiring removal.

7. Can safe airbag disposal include recycling rather than destruction and disposal?

Perhaps ironic in the face of the hazardous waste disposal problems they can create, there is a market for undeployed airbags in good condition. When a vehicle is involved in an accident during which an airbag is deployed, and that vehicle is to be repaired, the deployed airbag must be replaced by federal law.

New airbags are prohibitively expensive. That creates a demand for used ones. Thus, undeployed airbags could be a saleable asset for vehicle dismantlers instead of an environmental liability requiring hazardous waste removal.

Undeployed airbags come from salvaged cars that were never involved in an accident where the airbags deployed, allowing them to be sold as used but functional parts. Collision repair shops are the primary buyers of undeployed OEM airbags, often using them to replace damaged airbags in vehicles involved in accidents. But there are hinderances. Among them:

While technically safe when sourced from reputable recyclers, there are concerns about potential damage to the airbags if removed improperly from the scrapped vehicle, which could compromise their functionality. For that reason, many insurance companies won’t cover the cost of replacing airbags with used ones, potentially limiting the market.

8. Where can you find advice about safe airbag disposal?

Although there is no coherent EPA policy for end-of-life airbags when they’re intact, many of their constituent materials are RCRA hazardous and must be treated as such. Along with polluting dyes and additives, and in addition to the aforementioned sodium azide, undeployed airbags can contain other chemicals that are reactive, toxic, corrosive, or ignitable.

Thereby, to avoid environmental contamination and human exposure to hazardous materials,

it’s important that scrap dealers follow proper disposal protocols when dealing with end-of-life airbags

Don’t go it alone.

Hazardous Waste Experts holds all necessary permits for accepting recalled or surplus inflators and modules. We can help you with the secure storage, handling, processing, and logistics management of end-of-life airbags.

Find out more here. Or call our new number: 425.414.3485.

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