Automotive Air Bag Inflators

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum and I have done some searching on the topic of my post but I have not found any information on scrapping automotive air bag inflators.

I have a contract with a local air bag manufacturing facility to manage their scrap inflators.
The inflators that are rejected from the manufacturing process are deactivated and then collected for recycling. They are all steel. Just for emphasis: They are not live airbag inflators but have been deactivated.

The bigger scrap yards in my area do not want the material because of the perceived risk of handling a potentially dangerous device and because most of the scrap inflators are cylinders that once held compressed gas.

The facility will generate a large quantity of this scrap; approximately 40-60 tons per month.

A local recycler has agreed to accept the inflators. Their plans are to shred them before they are sent on down the line. They intend to pay shred steel price plus some.

I am looking to maximize the price paid for this material.



Any ideas on how this scrap could be handled other than the shredding?

What grade do you think these should be?

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

I look forward to your responses and I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this forum.

I'll post some pictures of the material once I'm allowed to by the moderators of the forum.

I dont know if you would get any higher price on the materials since you said its all steel than shred anyway. If you would get a better price from a yard than the recycler you can cut holes in the tanks and eliminate the "compressed air tank" scare but I really dont think you would get anymore than shred anyway. Might be better to just drop off the loads without handling them and collect a check.

Originally Posted by jbrown40004

The inflators that are rejected from the manufacturing process are deactivated and then collected for recycling.

The facility will generate a large quantity of this scrap; approximately 40-60 tons per month.

Wow, someone needs to help them with their quality assurance program!

Bill

I am not all that familiar with the grades of scrap steel but would this size material not fit the definition of a HMS #1? The longest pieces are only about 16".

Originally Posted by BarrenRealms007

Look on the bags and see if there aren't some gold contact's that you can remove.

The only part that could potentially have gold would be the terminals for the wiring harness connnection.

How can I check them to see if they have any gold in them?

Originally Posted by RustyDollars

Cut one in half and see how thick the walls are. If it's 1/8" or greater than you could get prepped price in my area anyway.

Thank you. Please excuse my ignorance. What is the "prepped" grade and how does it compare to shred or HMS?

Originally Posted by jbrown40004

Thank you. Please excuse my ignorance. What is the "prepped" grade and how does it compare to shred or HMS?

I just answered my own question about the "prepped" grade by doing some research. Thanks

Sounds like they're similar to small fire extinguisher cylinders, and some people cut those in half all day long. I use a metal cutting blade on a 10" miter saw for lots of cuts. What type metal, are they magnetic?

They are various sizes; all steel. I will get some pics up soon. That will help.

They are mostly cylinder shaped, definitely at least 1/8" wall thickness, 0.5" to 1.5" diameter, 4" to 16" in length.

The company that had the contract before me sold some of the material directly to a brake drum manufacturer which had its own furnace onsite. Does anybody have any experience with selling directly to the end-user like that?

Thank you all for your thoughts.