chimmike

Trust me when I tell you, you don't want airbags going off. They can hurt more than help in less severe situations.

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

@chimmike let me guess...you know from experience

chimmike

first hand? no, fortunately but professionally, yes, and with friends/coworkers/acquaintances.

Woman I worked with was in a late 90s or early 2000s Xterra. bag popped in a not-so-bad collision and burned the skin right off her thighs so bad she almost needed grafts.

rmc63

He might not have any, but I do. Had a very minor accident with my '91 Grand Marquis and had the airbag blow, blew my left hand off of the wheel and against the windshield, broke a bone in it. The only damage to my Grand Marquis was a broken grille and a cracked header panel.

CosmicMiami

Agreed. I am a FF and respond to motor vehicle collisions when the airbag deployment caused more harm than it helped. I am very grateful that they did not deploy as the seatbelt was sufficient in my collision. The bags would have been overkill. Plus the vehicle was still drivable without bag deployment. Luckily, the radiator was still intact as was the AC condensor.

An unrestrained occupant is a different story. Why anybody doesn't wear a safety belt is beyond my comprehension. I've been doing it for my entire driving career of nearly 40 years (started driving on country roads when I was 12 and only two not-at-fault wrecks). I've been on some nasty looking wrecks and rollovers when upon arrival I'm thinking somebody is dead here. Nope. They are walking around. Then on some benign looking collision, there is a dead occupant.

After head-on collisions (at higher speeds), side impacts are the worst. Occupants can be walking around on scene yet still have serious internal injuries.

Y'all drive safe.

CosmicMiami

No doubt in it's infancy, airbag systems were rather crude. Obviously they have become more sophisticated and complex with sensors and such. I'm almost ashamed to admit I did not know about the newer seatbelt tensioner technology that are tied to the airbag system. I always thought they were just a mechanical ratchet type device that merely put tension on the belt on impact. I'm putting this in my toolbox for the job.

Thanks for edugimacating me.

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

oh yes, and those early ford airbag systems were loud as hell

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

no problem anytime

CosmicMiami

Sure.

The other car struck me at a slight angle. You can tell by the asymmetric damage. The fold in the middle of the bumper and the push out on the driver side is obvious. She came from the right.

rmc63

You nailed it! Early airbags blew off at full power regardless of crash intensity and were known for causing injuries. "Rather crude" is putting it lightly!