Buying used fleet vehicles from government agencies can be a good way to get a bland car cheap (or a former police car if you're into power). One of the reasons the vehicles tend to be bland is they're bought on the cheap. In other words, governments buy things from the low bidder. One way to knock a bid price down is to eliminate things - such as side air bags.
Yes, missing side air bags continue to be a problem. This time it's in North Carolina where ABC 11 reports 750 Chevy Impalas were bought without side air bags so the state could save $145 per vehicle.
According to a study of federal crash data cited in the report, side-impact crashes were responsible for 51 percent of all driver deaths. So, the state opted to gamble on no side impact crashes killing or maiming its employees to save $145, or less than $110,000.
By the way, the news report includes this good advice:
"Want to know if the car your renting or buying has the airbags? If the vehicle has airbags, the word "airbag" will appear above the doors. There's also a way you can decode the Vehicle Identification Number on an Impala. If the seventh digit is a "5," you don't have side-airbags in your car."
As I've reported earlier, GM has stopped the practice of allowing fleet purchasers to delete the standard side air bags. However, that doesn't mean there aren't still lots of used Impalas on the road without the side air bags. Buyer beware.