Washington ( CNN ) -- Car owners who have replaced a vehicle 's airbag in the past three years , take note : That new airbag could be an unsafe fake . Federal officials on Wednesday warned motorists and auto shops that counterfeit airbags pose a danger to consumers , saying the bags could fail to deploy or even hurt people in car wrecks . Concerns over counterfeit airbags heightened last month when authorities tested 10 fake airbags seized as part of a criminal investigation . All 10 failed , authorities said . Some failed to inflate , others partially inflated and one exploded , showering the crash test dummy with metal shrapnel . To date , there are no known injuries or deaths resulting from the counterfeits , the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said . But officials said they fear the counterfeits could hurt motorists and passengers if they go undetected . `` These seemingly genuine airbags are in fact shoddy fakes , '' said John Morton , director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement , which seized 2,500 counterfeit airbags during fiscal 2012 . `` These airbags do n't work . They 're not going to save you in an accident . They are a fraud and a danger from start to finish , and you do n't want them in your car , period . '' Officials cautioned that only a small fraction of all cars -- estimated at 0.1 % -- have the counterfeit airbags . `` They are good fakes . They look like the real thing , '' said David Strickland , administrator of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . `` And frankly , a consumer is not going to be in a position to figure out whether they have a fake or a real airbag . '' The agency said the following people may be most at risk : . -- Those who have had airbags replaced in the past three years at a repair shop that is not part of a new car dealership . -- Those who have purchased a used car but are not familiar with its history . -- Those who own a car with a title branded salvage , rebuilt or reconstructed . -- Those who have purchased replacement airbags over the Internet , especially at unusually low prices , such as less than $ 400 . If motorists suspect they may have a counterfeit airbag , they should contact call centers established by car manufacturers to have their vehicles inspected . A list of call centers is available at www.SaferCar.gov . Government and industry officials noted that consumers will bear the cost of inspections . `` The bad actors here are the counterfeiters , '' said A. Bailey Wood Jr. , a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association . Wood estimated the cost of inspecting airbags at between $ 100 and $ 200 , and the cost of replacing a steering wheel airbag at between $ 750 and $ 1,000 . `` And some cars have eight airbags , '' he said . Strickland said his agency is working with automakers to develop a system to verify authentic replacement parts and to raise awareness of the potential risks of counterfeit parts . Morton said earlier this year that customs agents arrested a Chinese broker selling nine brands of counterfeit airbags in the United States . That broker has been convicted and is in prison , Morton said , and multiple investigations into other brokers are continuing .
Counterfeit airbags have been sold as replacements for U.S. cars . The company has said that the inflators are not counterfeit, but they could be used in a car with an older design and therefore would need to be replaced more often. Only a small fraction of cars have the bad bags , officials say .