Ever experience the thrill of an air bag deployment?

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Luckily never, but I did sell several cars to people that were less fortunate. Many with black eyes and a few with broken noses from the airbag.
 
I have. 2003 Silverado regular cab 2wd former dot truck. Hit a good sized buck going 70. He ran across the four lanes so fast I didn't even have time to say "oh [censored]". The odd part is that I swear the bag didn't imediatly deploy. The battery had the extended studs on it for radio equipment to when the deer hit it shoved the battery into the inner fender shorting it out. It was night. I remember seeing the deer hit the truck then the truck went dark. The lights came back on after the initial hit and I swear that is when the bag deployed because I remember seeing it inflat and thinking what the [censored] is this in my face as I slammed on the brakes. As I slammed on the brakes the abs unit cycled and then the power went out again leaving me with no brakes or lights going 70mph. Hit the parking brake and came to a stop. I remember the smell and smokey cloud but couldn't imideatly open the door when I put it in park because no power for the power locks. Ruined the bumper, hood, radiator support grill and lights and drivers fender. Could have been driven away if it wasn't for the brakes, bumper hitting the tire and battery.
 
I was in a Chrysler concord with a friend and the lady in front of us slammed on the brakes and my friend was following too closely and hit her and bam. White powder everywhere out of that one.
 
Originally Posted by KGMtech
Nope. FWIR, the majority of drivers will not have the experience. If you wear your seatbelt properly, the front airbags are not so much of an improvement in safety. Side airbags is a different situation with significant benefits.


You would be surprised how much just your cervical spine will hyperextend, one foot from your upper shoulders without much of a problem! The driver bag will cushion your cervical spine. You will get a little slap in the face, but that's it unless your sitting too close to it like females often do. I have had female customers that were knocked out, and also received broken noses. Need to be minimum 18/20 inches from driver bag to your face.

Info for everyone;
Passenger air bags are the "KILLERS". Passenger bags are Huge! Balloon from dash to windshield, all the way up to the headliner. They are 3 or 4 times the size of the driver bag. Never allow a passenger to ride in passenger front seat without a seatbelt on! Never allow passengers to rest feet or any other part of body on the dash while vehicles motor is running. "SRS" Air bag system will only deploy when vehicle voltage is up above about 13.3 volts, will not deploy at 12.8 volts, and key off.

Pre tensioner seat belts did not become commonly used in the Japanese vehicles I repaired until later 90's.

Most people that have an accident with an SRS deployment don't even know until after the fact, they are shocked from the accident. The white smoke is talc powder that the bags are packed in. Its harmless. The powder charge for the driver bag exits to the sides and is well know to give slight burns on hands or fingers. Driver bag can break thumbs if your thumbs are wrapped around the steering wheel. The systems are not as complicated as some might want portray. They are a stand alone computer system. They do not interface with any other computer systems within the vehicle. The systems are very easy to repair, replace. Sometimes cost is an issue though.


Originally Posted by MasterSolenoid
No.
I do remember in the 1960's my Father drove past a Collision Shop and he pointed out a wrecked car saying, "see where their heads hit the windshield" ?


Your father and I have something in common! But it sounds like he's a bit older than I, I used to do that in the late 70's and thru the 80's, but with a twist! "I SHOWED people the head marks cause dumb people were not wearing seat belts, then I showed people "THE HAIR" that the glass had pinched off from their head. I always thought it was kinda funny, but I'm pretty sure the drivers didn't! They were not bad accidents. Does not take much to pinch some hair off your head when not wearing a seat belt!


Originally Posted by Kestas
Yes, belts are your primary safety device. Air bags are great to prevent hyperextension of the neck by keeping the head from going forward.

Side air bags are great because side impacts on the head are worse than front impacts.

Air bags only protect for one impact. If your car turns into a pinball during a crash, you better have your belts on.


Yep, you got that right! Safety has come a long way, I'll take all I can get! Technology gets better and better every day.


Most of the fatalities are at less than 35 to 40mph, and at intersections, T-Bone=Death

Side SRS, and Curtains are your friend!
 
Originally Posted by Smokescreen
I hope I never have the misfortune of experiencing airbag deployment.

+1
 
When I was contracted to a film support company, they would dispose of 100's of advertisement and manufacture pool vehicles at the end of the year, every year. They were test vehicles and advertisement vehicles. They did not sell any of these vehicles, they want no liability to them, they crush them all. 100's of each model they sell! All manufactures do it! They also use them for a write off.


Some parts must be removed, gas tanks, catalytic converters, Air Bags! They can't go into the crusher with these parts. All Air Bags must be Deployed!


I have done about 25/30 passengers, drivers are no fun. The guys at the Film support co. do 1000 per year. Passengers placed face down on the asphalt and zapped with a battery charger go as high or higher than a telephone pole! Just gotta make sure you have a safe landing zone!
 
[Linked Image]


This was from a guy making a turn in front of me... (I was in the turning lane going straight, he was cutting across traffic). If it weren't for my glasses, I wouldn't have had a scratch on me. My glasses broke into my face and caused a very small cut above my nose that somehow managed to bleed so much that the scene resembled a school shooting by the time the cop got there... I kept telling him "I'm fine, what's the problem?". Turns out I was wiping my face and spreading blood all over the place without realizing it. It was quite a sight...

My Takata airbag (VW dealer was still waiting for replacements) did not shoot shrapnel all over the place. Interesting thing though: I must sit a bit closer to the wheel that some other posters, because I no bruises from the lap belt, just a massive shot to the face from the airbag. Here was my driving position:

[Linked Image]


Overall, it was an interesting experience, but I can't say I recommend it.
 
Originally Posted by KneeGrinder
Your father and I have something in common! But it sounds like he's a bit older than I, I used to do that in the late 70's and thru the 80's, but with a twist! "I SHOWED people the head marks cause dumb people were not wearing seat belts, then I showed people "THE HAIR" that the glass had pinched off from their head. I always thought it was kinda funny, but I'm pretty sure the drivers didn't! They were not bad accidents. Does not take much to pinch some hair off your head when not wearing a seat belt!

At times, with the earlier glass, the hair wouldn't be pinched off, but the entire head.
 
Originally Posted by Garak
Originally Posted by KneeGrinder
Your father and I have something in common! But it sounds like he's a bit older than I, I used to do that in the late 70's and thru the 80's, but with a twist! "I SHOWED people the head marks cause dumb people were not wearing seat belts, then I showed people "THE HAIR" that the glass had pinched off from their head. I always thought it was kinda funny, but I'm pretty sure the drivers didn't! They were not bad accidents. Does not take much to pinch some hair off your head when not wearing a seat belt!

At times, with the earlier glass, the hair wouldn't be pinched off, but the entire head.


You might be a little older than I also! All the cars I had seen back in the old days with the "pinched hair" had safety glass. Sounds like you have seen some without safety glass! And some less fortunate souls, something I would not really want to see, but I have seen a lot of bad vehicles at the salvage auction.
 
I had heard stories about the lopped heads, and fortunately never experienced one directly. I knew a fellow who basically wrote the book on the advancement of safety features on automobiles over the decades, with books, photographs, films, crash tests, and the like. As an aside, he was one of the most crazily educated people I'd ever met, with a PhD in physics, an MD, and a law degree. Of course, he was quite prepared for an educational standpoint for such study.

The hair in the glass certainly was common enough. I can never stress it enough - wear your seatbelt, wear your seatbelt, wear your seatbelt....
 
Originally Posted by JOD
[Linked Image]


This was from a guy making a turn in front of me... (I was in the turning lane going straight, he was cutting across traffic). If it weren't for my glasses, I wouldn't have had a scratch on me. My glasses broke into my face and caused a very small cut above my nose that somehow managed to bleed so much that the scene resembled a school shooting by the time the cop got there... I kept telling him "I'm fine, what's the problem?". Turns out I was wiping my face and spreading blood all over the place without realizing it. It was quite a sight...

My Takata airbag (VW dealer was still waiting for replacements) did not shoot shrapnel all over the place. Interesting thing though: I must sit a bit closer to the wheel that some other posters, because I no bruises from the lap belt, just a massive shot to the face from the airbag. Here was my driving position:

[Linked Image]


Overall, it was an interesting experience, but I can't say I recommend it.


You were going quite fast in the center lane then.
Were you NOT paying attention to "gaps" as you passed vehicles in the center turn lane?

We must always look for those gaps, that allow drivers thru, to turn left. You should have been going no more than five miles per hour in that center lane, when you approached that gap. Another gap is turning left on a two lane road and approach the shoulder of the road. Those shoulders often contain moving vehicles that attempt to drive straight-thru on the shoulder, in heavy traffic.

Always expect the unexpected. Otherwise, stay home, because the rest of us depend on your smarts..... not lack of smarts.
 
I was going about 5-7 miles an hour. The other guy was going a lot faster... I think there was video from it, and he was 100% at fault. Honestly, not sure what else I could have done to avoid it. Funny you mention the gap--it was barely there (I think he actually hit another car before hitting me). Pretty sure there was drugs involved...
 
Hopefully, I never will. They scare me to death, but I'm sure that if I'm in an accident and they deploy, I'll be glad. Unless my recalled, but not yet replaced airbags shrapnel me.
 
I remember back in 1968 our family on vacation passed up a fresh crash. The front windshield was domed from the inside about four inches. That visual stuck with me for a long time. I religiously wore my seat belt at all times on the raod.
 
Originally Posted by ZZman
From the smell and "smoke" they make when going off many people would comment they thought the vehicles were on fire.

The newer airbag inflators using non-NaN3(sodium azide) propellants tend to produce hotter gases but a "cleaner" burn although still dirty. In some cars, the driver's airbag is using a small hybrid inflator that contains compressed helium or argon like the passenger's side, curtain and side airbags - a small explosive charge that's bigger than a blasting cap or a gun primer ruptures the seal of the He/Ar canister and it rapidly fills the airbag.

Takata's idea of using ammonium nitrate and another fuel is a brilliant idea from an accounting perspective - but in practice it was a disaster. AN is a cheap and powerful oxidizer, and ANFO is an common example of ammonium nitrate's power as an oxidizer. Airbags are an controlled explosion however.
 
I haven't, but my wife has. She got into our 2000 Saab, turned the key in the ignition, and the driver's side side airbag (in her seat back) blew up. I heard it and went out to find her shocked and bruised - nasty welt on her upper arm. Mechanic said the side impact sensor inside the door had corroded and must have shorted when she started up the car.

That was her first day going back to work after maternity leave...not a good morning all around.
 
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