Airbags

[grigor]

Saw this at the auctions and it got me wondering just how much does it take to deploy R34 airbags.

It's had a pretty heavy hit, inside is a mess, floor pan is buckled and I thought the right-front damage should have fired the bags, but no.

She's a repairable write-off.

[toddlls]

effective force required usually only via a frontal impact @ approx. 60kph or higher, life span of airbag usually 10yrs then require service check up- or thats what I have been told

[JET-25L]

damn how spewin would ya be if that was your car.....

[GTR-N1]

I would have expected an airbag deployment even with an oblique hit like that; but perhaps the damage looks worse than what the sensor detected as a sudden stop.

5 years ago, the father of one of our pharmacy shopgirls Greg, had a head-on in his E46 BMW 325i and the airbag never went off! He was in hospital for weeks after being nearly scalped. He bought an Audi after that.

[grigor]

I was comparing this impact to one my Dad had in his BA where they all went off.

He's scared to drop the bonnet now.

[mad082]

the actual front damage on that looks to be pretty minimal. don't think it was a very hard impact front on. side on was a bit bigger though, lol

[grigor]

I'm thinking the same, just not quite enough to set them off.

Makes you wonder though, lots of bags are getting very OLD.

My wife's VS must be almost 15 years old and yet I've never seen any reference to any airbag checks on an RWC.

[mad082]

how would you check an airbag though? hit the front of the car really hard and if it goes off you know it is in good working order. if it doesn't go off try hitting it harder. if it goes off then it works, if it doesn't you know it's shot.

[GTR-N1]

if it goes off then it works, if it doesn't you know it's shot.

if it goes off THEN it's shot haha

[grigor]

I was thinking of something slightly more scientific. Check continuity of circuits, impedence as is done with tail lights etc on modern vehicles.

There must be a test apart from the obvious. BOOM!

eg. I left a car stored at a friend's farm for a week. Picked it up and no right indicator. Eventually removed the plastic inner guard and found rats had built a home in there, eaten the wire's insulation and shorted out the indicator. They could just as easily have eaten airbag wires.

[GTR-N1]

I was thinking of something slightly more scientific. Check continuity of circuits, impedence as is done with tail lights etc on modern vehicles.

There must be a test apart from the obvious. BOOM!

eg. I left a car stored at a friend's farm for a week. Picked it up and no right indicator. Eventually removed the plastic inner guard and found rats had built a home in there, eaten the wire's insulation and shorted out the indicator. They could just as easily have eaten airbag wires.

Rats?

I only knew about ants...

and hunstmen spiders if parked under gum trees...

[ARTZ]

Oh so thats why i keep getting huntsmans in my work ute ..and dings in my bonnet from the bloody gumnuts....

[grigor]

Found a shredded Jap. newspaper mice nest in the spare wheel well of a 33. They'd got in via the flow-through vent valve mounted in the lower right rear inner mudguard. There was still some bits of newspaper stuck in the vent holding it open.

Must have happened while the car sat on the docks back in Japan.

[mad082]

I was thinking of something slightly more scientific. Check continuity of circuits, impedence as is done with tail lights etc on modern vehicles.

There must be a test apart from the obvious. BOOM!

eg. I left a car stored at a friend's farm for a week. Picked it up and no right indicator. Eventually removed the plastic inner guard and found rats had built a home in there, eaten the wire's insulation and shorted out the indicator. They could just as easily have eaten airbag wires.

yes you could check the wires and all that, but it isn't going to tell you if the explosives are still good or not......

[R31Nismoid]

The fuse could have been pulled or similar, not allowing them to go off.

[BstewyR33]

i'm suprised they didn't go off, mind you in saying that. I wrote my mums barina off leaving the bruce highway (with about a 1m drop off the side) i landed on all 4's but my front hit the ground 1st (naturally), it shifted the entire contents of the engine bay back 2 inches. and the airbags still didn't deploy at time of impact i was prob travelling 70-80

[910trx]

airbags need a sequence of events to go off.

i remember watching an option dvd where they got one of the usual race guys (the one they get to do outrageous stunts) and drive his own car at speed into a parked car to activate an airbag.

first attempt did not work as he stopped accelerating and hit the brakes prior impact

2nd attempt worked as he hit the car with the accelerator planted

i guess it comes back to if the driver is hard on the brakes, the car is at full lean under brakes, the car is slowing rapidly. the airbag may trigger a seatbelt pretensioner rather than a full blown airbag deplayment as it is pre programmed that at this stage the driver is unger full tension of the belt and body prepared for impact due to the predicted g rating of that level of deacceleration

airbags are really a last resort - if one went off under a small impact, rather than some bruisng from the seat belt, sore neck and ankle injuries - you would end up with a broken nose fronm the airbag deployment.

airbags are designed only prevent fatal injuries not general.

i'm also fairly sure that airbags are not just 2 wires cut into a powered loom, left exposed and hooked up to some light explosives, instead the wiring is heavily insulated and built to a standard that would nearly eliminate failure if needed.

kind of like screws made for the aerospace industry compares to parts you would find at bunnings - the aerospace parts would be to a specified grade, size shape, weight. the Bunnings, one out of 30 will, cross thread, sheer, be denatured etc...

and if a rat or something ate the wires - wouldnt the airbag light or something be on? - then if the driver ignored the light and ran his car into something - stiff shit i say...

[/rant]

[gotRICE?]

^^ Im not completely sure about what needs to happen for them to deploy.

I had a slight mishap in my older VTEC Prelude. I spun out on a tightish bend, and hit the passengers side into a clay/rock bank. It wasnt an overall intense impact, but i watched the airbag deploy. It just looked like a limp dick. No inflation i saw so to speak.

This was the aftermath (no idea who the person in the photo was).

I guess it was just a perfect situation for the airbag to go? It would have been moving at about 60-70km/h when it hit, and i was sliding more along the wall rather than into it if you know what i mean. It wasnt a head on impact.

Maybe its because of a crumble zone? The impact was solid enough for the front cross-member to sheer off the corner of the sump.. clearly But it jst didnt FEEL like it was a hard hit.

The other thing, maybe the technology between a 1992 airbag, and a 98+ Airbag, from the 34 is different to avoid writeoffs with minor damage deployments. Because as far as im aware, if an airbag deploys in NZ, the cars toast regardless.

Oh, and edit: The point is, from the post above about the airbag tests, it would be pretty safe to assume i was not hard on the throttle when i hit the wall, considering it was after stepping out to the right a good 50-60', then spinning left into the wall. And being a n00b young idiot i would have been hard on the anchors.

Edited September 16, 2009 by gotRICE?

[R31Nismoid]

Like i said - fuse.

without knowing 100% the fuse is in, and correct, hard to say if the bag should/shouldn't go off. Don't just assume the fuse is there.