June 18, 2026
On November 13, 2024, the driver of a 2020 Honda Accord traveling on a South Carolina road at about 32 mph collided with a Kia Optima sedan. The impact was sufficient to trigger deployment of the driver’s airbag and knee airbag. When the frontal airbag deployed, so did the decorative rhinestone “bling” pieces that she had affixed around the Honda “H” logo in the center of her steering wheel 18 months earlier. The force of the deploying airbag turned the adhesive-backed metal decal car jewelry into projectiles, one of which lodged in her eye. Her injuries were severe enough that it could not be saved.
A similar incident in 2025 sent the components of the steering wheel crystal emblem placed on a 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe through the driver’s eye, causing loss of her eye and brain damage. Since 2021, at least a dozen such incidents have been documented in civil litigation, medical journals, news stories, and complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) consumer complaints database. In all but one account, relatively minor collisions from which the driver might have walked away with cuts and bruises, resulted in rhinestone projectiles causing penetrating trauma to the driver’s arms, eyes, face, neck, and chest. These serious injuries required surgeries and resulted in lingering pain. In some cases, drivers suffered, permanent disability and disfigurement. Six victims have lost sight in one eye or lost the eye altogether.
Attorney Ronnie Crosby of the South Carolina-based firm, The Parker Law Group, who represents the victim in the first incident, recently identified another bling decal as the source of an eye injury in separate crash involving a Honda.
Crosby’s expert testing of a rhinestone accessory affixed over a Honda steering wheel airbag cover during a deployment shows how a small decorative applique is turned into a bullet-like projectile.
“It goes up and back directly toward where you would think somebody’s face would be. And it’s pretty powerful – it looks just like shrapnel,” he says. “They’re putting a product in the marketplace that has zero utility and the risk of great bodily harm. And it’s not just a risk, it’s almost an absolute: if the airbag deploys, that the decal is going to come off and be projected toward the face of the vehicle occupant.”
Despite warnings from NHTSA on its website and to marketplaces to forgo or remove them, these bling decals are still widely available for purchase, and they continue to cause serious harm in minor crashes.
“The fact that I have two in South Carolina tells me that there are a lot more cases out there, and a lot more cars with these bling decals on them that are just one wreck away from a serious injury,” Crosby says.
A quick search for “car bling” will pull up hundreds of opportunities to buy sparkly accessories for vehicle interiors and exteriors, from steering wheel rim covers, to trunk logo and Start/Stop button covers, to neck pillows, to visor tissue holders. These products, available through Amazon, eBay, Etsy, TikTok, Instagram, Alibaba and other smaller online retailers, typically place plastic pieces, crystals or rhinestones in a pavé metal setting – a jewelry technique that sets numerous stones closely together to create a dazzling surface. These products, particularly those designed to fill in the spaces within the steering wheel logo, represent an especially acute risk in an airbag deployment because they adhere to the airbag cover. In addition to projectile injuries from bling products that are placed on airbag covers, similar accessories that are added to other areas in a vehicle interior can present a harmful contact surface for occupants who may interact with them in a crash.
In November 2023, NHTSA issued its first Consumer Alert warning consumers not to buy or use steering wheel decorative emblem decals placed in the center of steering wheels, citing an injury incident. Its advisory noted:
The product is a metal or plastic plate, usually covered with rhinestones or other shiny decorations, with an adhesive back that covers the vehicle’s logo in the center of the steering wheel. In a crash, the force of a deploying air bag can turn the product into a projectile, resulting in serious injury or death. Unlike the permanently affixed logo on your vehicle’s steering wheel, these aftermarket decals can easily become dislodged when the air bag is deployed. Any alterations or changes to your air bag or its cover can also cause it to not function correctly.
The alert was covered in print and broadcast news media at the time but did not appear to have resulted in much response from retailers, let alone consumers. In May 2024, NHTSA issued a second Consumer Alert, citing another incident in which pieces of the emblem were embedded in the driver’s face and neck. The agency also sent letters to major online retailers like Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, alerting them to the dangers of bling logo decals, with links to NHTSA’s two advisories.
According to the safety agency, the email noted that NHTSA had found these items for sale on the particular online retailer’s/marketplace’s website and “encourage[d]” them to “do what they can to prevent these items from being sold on your website…NHTSA appreciates anything you can do to prevent the sale of these dangerous items.”
A NHTSA spokesman said that the agency “routinely meets with leading online retailers and marketplaces about dangerous automotive products.”
OEMs understand the hazard of objects placed in front of or over any airbag module, and for decades, owner’s manuals have included information or warnings about the potential for injury from sharp objects or interference with the proper function of the bag during a deployment. For example, the manual for a 2023 Hyundai Tucson says:
Never place any objects (such as dashboard cover, mobile phone holder, cup holder, perfume or stickers) over or near the airbag modules on the steering wheel, instrument panel, windshield glass, and the front passenger’s panel above the glove box. Such objects may cause harm if the vehicle is in a collision severe enough to cause the airbags to deploy.
The 2020 Honda Accord owner’s manual states:
Do not place hard or sharp objects between yourself and a front airbag.
Carrying hard or sharp objects on your lap, or driving with a pipe or other sharp object in your mouth, can result in injuries if your front airbag inflates.
Do not attach or place objects on the front and front knee airbag covers.
Objects on the covers marked SRS AIRBAG could interfere with the proper operation of the airbags or be propelled inside the vehicle and hurt someone if the airbags inflate.
However, consumers are unlikely to equate these harmless looking, adhesive-backed, bling “decals” with the potential for severe injury, due to their size, which range from about a half-inch to two inches, and ubiquitous availability.
According to John Morgan, founder of law firm Morgan & Morgan, which represents a bling decal victim in a Florida case, “Consumers think they are just buying a sparkly car accessory, without realizing that this decoration can become a missile pointing at their faces when their airbag deploys. We believe that sellers, especially online sellers like eBay, Alibaba, Amazon and others, should be doing more to prevent dangerous products like these bling emblems from being sold on their sites. These companies allegedly know everything about their customers – including how to reach those who have purchased these products. They have the ability and duty to warn customers about the dangers and to encourage buyers to remove them to prevent serious, life-threatening injuries,” he says. “Automakers should also be alerting their service departments to advise customers of the hazards that come with these products because it’s clear that the risk is dangerously underappreciated.”
Decals and emblems that dislodge due to inadequate securement when the steering wheel frontal impact airbag deploys, causing injuries to drivers, has been known to occur even on OEM products, leading some manufacturers to recall vehicles for this type of defect.
For example, in February 2023, Nissan initiated two recalls for Autoliv-supplied driver airbag modules and assemblies because of a defect that results in separation of the interior metal pieces that attach the “Nissan” emblem to the module casing. Nissan’s defect information report to NHTSA said the “resin emblem on the driver’s airbag module cover in affected vehicles may have reduced durability due to potential Tier 2 supplier production process variation” and the condition can cause the posts holding the emblem to crack over time and detach during a deployment. Nissan said: “A detached emblem and/or retainer component may become a projectile during an airbag deployment, increasing the risk of injury to vehicle occupants.” The company reported three previous injuries allegedly caused by detached emblems during an airbag deployment event and 117 reports of cracked or detached emblems not associated with a deployment. Post-recall, this defect was alleged to have caused one driver to lose an eye during an airbag deployment.
In March 2021, GM initiated a recall for certain 2017-2021 MY Chevrolet Camaro vehicles; GM noted that in some vehicles, the plastic “Camaro” branded emblem on the front-driver airbag cover may separate during a deployment, creating an increased risk of injury. GM said the defect was due to a manufacturing issue that led to improperly molded plastic material on the affected front-driver airbag modules. According to GM’s chronology, the problem surfaced during lot acceptance tests by TRW, the module supplier, which led it to open an investigation that identified the manufacturing problem. There were no known field claims or injuries, GM said.
FCA (now Stellantis) initiated a July 2020 recall that included 925,200 Chrysler Town and Country, Dodge Grand Caravan, and Dodge Nitro vehicles because they may have a loose or detached driver airbag (DAB) emblem, and/or loose emblem retainers within the DAB module assembly. The company’s recall dealer service instructions and owner letters both stated: “A loose or detached emblem or emblem retainer can become a potential projectile during a crash with DAB deployment, which may result in occupant injury.” FCA reported that as of June 30, 2020, it identified 13 customer complaints, two legal matters and 14 injuries potentially relating to this issue.
At least some retailers have responded to NHTSA’s request. Amazon, a major seller of such products appears to have removed most of steering wheel bling emblem decals from its U.S. website listings. But a recent search located a Chinese seller offering steering wheel emblems for Toyota, Mercedes, Mazda, Hyundai and Audi vehicles.
In early June, The Safety Record purchased the Hyundai version from the seller through Amazon and received the delivery from China, which was routed through a New Jersey warehouse, then sent via the U.S. Postal Service. It arrived two weeks after the order was placed. The four metal parts, with an adhesive backing designed to stick to the steering wheel cover in the space around the stylized Hyundai logo are approximately a half inch long and weigh about 2 grams:
Amazon did not respond to The Safety Record’s request for comment. But a subsequent Amazon search found that these items had been removed.
Despite its partial efforts to remove the products, Amazon does not list NHTSA’s May 2024 Alert on its Product Safety and Recalls page for customers who previously purchased these products and may still have them adhered to their center airbag covers or customers.
This page appears to be a more recent addition to the website that was likely prompted by the July 2021 civil complaint filed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) against Amazon for allegedly selling products that did not meet safety standards. Specifically, the CPSC alleged that the online retailer had taken insufficient steps to protect the public from children’s sleepwear that did not meet the flammability standard, carbon monoxide detectors that failed to detect CO, and hairdryers that did not have the required integral immersion protection components. Amazon disputed the allegations, but in July 2023, the CPSC issued an Initial Decision and Order on Remedies, which, among other things, required Amazon to make its “Products Safety and Recalls” page easily accessible. The current version of this page directs consumers to a section of the website listing recalls and safety alerts for products sold on Amazon. It also has a search function, where customers can use key words to find alerts or recalls going back to 2024. Amazon notes that the list is not “exhaustive” and “only includes alerts for products sold on Amazon.”
The Safety Record searched for the NHTSA alerts related to steering wheel emblems using different search terms and found no evidence of NHTSA’s May 2024 alert regarding steering wheel decals. In fact, most of the results were recalls associated with OEM components on vehicles, which were never sold on Amazon.
The online retailer has defended the sale of automotive bling decals on its website in civil litigation. In February 2024, Cecelia Martinez sued Amazon in relation to injuries she received from a bling decal she had purchased online. Martinez received the AEEIX rhinestone steering wheel logo in November 2020 and placed it on the steering wheel of her 2020 Honda Accord. On October 15, 2023, Martinez was involved in a minor collision that caused the airbag to deploy, dislodging the decal. According to the complaint, “pieces were projected throughout the cabin of the vehicle like shrapnel from a grenade.” One piece became embedded in plaintiff’s eye, causing total blindness that will eventually result in removal of her eye.
In a pending motion for summary judgment, Amazon argued that the decal was not defective under the consumer expectation test, which bases such a claim on whether the “product failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used in an intended or reasonably foreseeable manner.” To that end, Amazon hired defense expert firm Exponent. (For those unfamiliar with Exponent’s work, The Safety Record encourages readers to get a copy of “Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health” by David Michaels, former Assistant Secretary of Labor with OSHA, available on Amazon.) Exponent’s human factors expert report, authored by Dr. Joseph Sala, and attached to Amazon’s motion, describes a survey conducted among 387 California Bay Area drivers “to assess people’s knowledge, understanding, and expectations of vehicle airbags, car accessories intended to cover the center of the steering wheel, and the potential for dislodgement and/or injury associated with such products used in the event of airbag deployment.” According to the report, the survey found that:
And, lastly when “participants were asked if the accessory placed over the steering wheel airbag disconnected (in part or whole), or stayed adhered to the wheel, in the event of an airbag deployment could cause injury”…
The report further claims that Ms. Martinez, the plaintiff who lost her eye in a minor crash that resulted in an airbag deployment, wouldn’t have changed her purchase decision based on any warnings, and that her assertions that she did not know it was hazardous were not believable. Essentially, Amazon’s position was: She bought a product that carried an obvious risk, therefore it’s her problem. (Don’t buy the bling, if you can’t take the sting.)
Amazon can pay Exponent to produce a survey to defend itself in litigation showing that everybody knows these things are dangerous, but the continued availability of steering wheel bling decals and the injuries they cause suggest that lots of people don’t recognize that these innocuous, pretty little parts are a significant hazard.
The Safety Record suggests Amazon and its customers would benefit more if the company directed its resources to preventing hazardous products like these bling emblems from being listed on its site, improving surveillance of the products that are listed, and being more responsive to alerts from safety agencies like NHTSA, which pointed out the hazards several years ago, rather than blaming customers.