Since 2021, we’ve told you not to use decorative crests on your steering wheels because they could become projectiles in a crash. Don’t put anything nice on your steering wheel if you don’t want to look like the mean guy from Home Alone who has a splattered Mercedes logo hammered into his face. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) agrees with us, so don’t just believe us. The NHTSA recently sent out a warning to drivers that using decorations on the steering wheel could cause “significant injury or death” in a crash. Also, the department makes it very clear that putting rhinestones on steering wheel symbols is not okay. “At least one driver sustained a severe injury that led to unilateral blindness when a rhinestone-encrusted aftermarket emblem became dislodged from the steering wheel.” the report stated. “The incident occurred when the emblem became dislodged from the steering wheel.” According to the investigation, the driver was struck in the face by the steering wheel during the collision. Cheap glue is all that keeps decorations like rhinestones in place. When there’s a crash, the airbags go off with enough force to easily take out those rhinestones or any other decoration and turn it into shrapnel, which is like the sexiest frag grenade ever. Additionally, drivers should think about the safety of all people in the car since jewelry can cut the skin. Manufacturers put permanent logos on steering wheels to make them safer in case the airbag goes off. On the other hand, that is not what they are intended to do. If you make other changes to the steering wheel, it might be harder for the airbag to work right or at all, which raises the risk of a crash. Before you drive, please don’t put one of those awful laptop trays in front of the wheel. It would help if you didn’t decorate your steering wheel unless you want to drive with a shiny claymore mine in your hands. That’s what the government said.
