Unless I can't find the appropriate statute in the California Vehicle
Code (CVC), there is no statute that prohibits the motorist/registered
owner (RO) from disconnecting the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS).
The CVC addresses the passenger restraint and the child passenger
restraint systems, but not the SRS.
The only CVC statute I find related to the SRS is as follows:
27317. Any person who installs or reinstalls for compensation, or
who distributes or sells any previously deployed air bag that is part
of an inflatable restraint system, if the person knows that the air
bag has been previously deployed, is guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by
confinement in the county jail for one year or by both that fine and
confinement.
Now, if their is a United States Code of Federal Regulation for a
motorist disconnecting their SRS than it will require a federal peace
officer to cite the motorist. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
are cited in the CFR. A California peace officer can not cite a CFR rule
or regulation. I assume that is the same situation for peace officers in
other states.
I have a feeling that the FBI won't be out making traffic stops in the
near future to conduct vehicle inspections for disconnected SRS'.
So, it appears that it is not illegal for the RO to disconnect the SRS
in California.
> From: "Sculerati, Jamie" <pullg@mindspring.com>
- ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Phil Ethier" <pethier@isd.net>
>>> Why not ban airbags?
>>> -Katie Kelly
>
>> Kinda defeats the concept of Stock.
>
> True. There is scant precedent for mandating changes to stock cars.
> There is not a complete absence of precedent, though. Cars delivered
> without lap belts must have them installed. Certain cars with
> swing-axle suspensions are required to have suspension modifications.
> In this case, though, banning airbags would be next-to-impossible for
> cars that, unlike most Showroom Stock road racers, spend most of
their > lives on the street. They're part of the federally-mandated safety
> equipment in most cars that have them, and the NHTSA makes it very
> difficult to get permission to legally remove or disable an airbag.
> The consequences of doing so on the sly can be pretty stiff -- at the
> least, any insurance company will probably be able to cancel medical
> (and maybe all) coverage for a car that's had the bag removed. At
> worst, if someone other than the person who removed the bag is
injured > in an accident, there could be criminal charges. Sounds silly,
> but we've all seen sillier things happen.
> Of course, if we *did* ban airbags in Stock, it might solve the "car
> of the moment" problem -- there would be a run on pre-1992 cars....
--
Kenneth Allan Mitchell
mailto:nokones@kenmitchell.com
|