Tiny Car Accessories, Serious Crash Risks

Decorative steering wheel “bling” may look harmless, but safety warnings and injury reports show that these small aftermarket accessories can become dangerous projectiles when an airbag deploys.

The concern centres on adhesive-backed emblems, often made from metal or hard plastic and decorated with rhinestones or crystals. They are typically stuck over the vehicle maker's logo in the centre of the steering wheel. In normal use, they may seem like a cheap personal touch. In a crash, however, the force of an airbag can send them flying towards the driver's face, neck or chest.

The issue has gained renewed attention after The Safety Record reported further injury cases linked to these accessories, including a 2024 South Carolina crash in which a decorative emblem on a Honda Accord became dislodged during airbag deployment and caused the driver to lose an eye. The same report said another 2025 incident involving a steering wheel crystal emblem led to eye loss and brain injury.

US safety regulators have already warned drivers about the danger. In 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advised consumers not to buy or use decorative steering wheel emblem decals, saying they can detach in a crash and cause serious injury or death. The agency repeated the warning in 2024 after another driver suffered severe injuries when two metal pieces from a rhinestone decal struck the person's face and neck.

Medical literature has also documented the hazard. A 2024 Cureus case report described penetrating face and neck injuries caused by fragments from a metal rhinestone steering wheel emblem during a crash. Another Cureus report, published in 2025, described a rare penetrating brain injury involving an aftermarket steering wheel decoration propelled by airbag deployment.

The wider lesson is simple: airbags are engineered to work with the original steering wheel design, not added jewellery. Vehicle owners should remove any hard or sharp items from the airbag area and avoid placing accessories on steering wheels, dashboards or anywhere an airbag may deploy. A decorative detail costing only a few pounds can carry consequences far beyond its price.