MILWAUKEE -- Air bags were designed to save lives, not put them in danger. So imagine driving on a freeway or on a crowded city street and your airbag deploys unexpectedly. This nightmare came true for two Wisconsin residents, and it may happen to others.

Flood Damage Could Cause Air Bag Deployment

When Fond du Lac was drenched in heavy rain last month, Lynda Schultz’s 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier became trapped in a heavily flooded parking lot.

“I’m sure the floorboards were soaked because the flood waters rose,” Schultz said.

Weeks earlier, heavy rains had leaked into Tom Kleist’s 1996 Pontiac Grand Am.

“I just went in my car and the floor had water all over it,” Kleist said.

Both drivers eventually dried out their cars and hit the road, only to be stunned by what was about to happen.

“I got home… pulled into my driveway, put it in park and the airbag deployed in my face,” Schultz said.

Kleist, not coincidentally, experienced a very similar situation.

“About five minutes after I got off the freeway, the airbag just blew up right in my face,” Kleist said.

Both airbags deployed without any warning, stunning both drivers.

“It exploded. I didn’t know what happened at first. It felt… as if I had been shot. It was so loud and my ears were ringing and there was all of this white stuff in my face,” Schultz said.

That night, Schultz struggled to make sense of the situation. The next day, the cause of the airbag explosion became clear when she received a warning letter from General Motors.

“The letter said, ‘should your car ever become wet, the floor boards get soaked, don't drive your car, disconnect the battery and have it towed to a Chevrolet dealership,’” Schultz said.

The letter explained to Schultz what Kleist had already discovered.

“We found out the airbag module that controls it is under the passenger seat,” Kleist said.

Water in the airbag electronics system below the flood caused the airbags to deploy, but not immediately. It could have happened at any time after the electronics got wet.

But even with the explanation, it remains a difficult situation to understand.

“What reasonable person would think your airbags would deploy because your car got wet three days prior,” Schultz said.

A General Motors spokesperson confirmed the airbag problem for certain 1996 and 1997 vehicles. This problem affects the 1996 and 1997 Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Grand Am, Pontiac Sunfire, Buick Skylark and Oldsmobile Achieva.

According to General Motors, owners have been notified to get the electrical system checked if their vehicle has suffered flood damage.

Still, the letters do little to alleviate concerns for both the drivers of these specific vehicles and other motorists.

“They are absolutely time bombs… for all of us, not just the people driving them,” Schultz said.

Kleist also shares this concern.

“It could’ve been a whole lot worse if it happened on the freeway with all the other cars around,” Kleist said.

The heavy rains that the Midwest experienced in June may just be the fuse to light these ticking time-bombs.

“There’s been major flooding here. All of these cars could be affected and they’re just driving around not knowing it. They’re taking their lives into their hands and they don’t even know it,” Schultz said.

The recent flooding may have triggered the warning letters from General Motors, but 12 News has discovered the problem dates back more than a decade.

Both General Motors and the federal government investigated complaints about spontaneous airbag deployment caused by moisture as early as 1997.

The National Transportation Safety Board closed its investigation after several months when General Motors redesigned its airbag system to correct the problem. No recall was ever issued.

General Motors agreed to buy the cars back from Schultz and Kleist, but it is unknown how many similar cars are on the roads. However, the company did send out 1 million letters.