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Airbag danger??


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i was warming up my car this morning.. and just randomly starting thinking bout what happens when the airbag deploys... many of my friends who have crashed said the airbag hurts like a %@#...

so lets say you are approching an intersection, and some idiot on the opposite lane is trying to turn left. your 6th sense tells you he is going to try to make it. you place you hand covering the horn. alas.. he floors it and tries to squeeze through. you honk the hell out of him. but its too late. smash... bang.. crack.. all those related sounds...

so if the airbag is to deploy while you were honking... does it have enough potential and power to snap you arm into pieces?? like.. does that whole big piece of the steering wheel pop out??.. or does the little subaru emblem kind of just pops out and smacks you in the head??.. hahaha... ohh.. mental picture.. subaru emblem on steering wheel popping out and smacking you in the forehead... a sad sight... hahaha

 

well.. yea.. i guess i have nothing better to do while waiting for my car to warm up.... >_<

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...so if the airbag is to deploy while you were honking... does it have enough potential and power to snap you arm into pieces?? ...
Your arm would likely get broken as it's slammed into your face, breaking your face at the same time. I know someone who investigates injuries from the deployment of airbags. When he demonstrated an airbag deployment at one of our Car Club meetings, he recommended a couple of things:

 

1. Get into the habit of always holding your steering wheel on the outside so that your arm only crosses in front of the bag while turning. If your arm is across the hub at the time of deployment, you'll have both arm and face injuries.

2. If you see an inevitable crash coming, let go of the wheel just before impact so that damage to your hands, wrists and arms is limited to bag rash on your forearms. (IRL drivers learn this technique when hitting walls.)

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the cover is designed to pop up as the air bad deploys. most airbags are two stage systems - meaning they inflate either fully or partially, depending on the severity of the crash.

 

since we are talking miliseconds reaction times (3-6ms), airbags deploy and inflate with a velocity of around 200mph. if you drive like a lot of 'untrained' people holding the wheel with one hand at 12 o'clock, you will most likely brake your own nose with your own arm. if you hands are positioned at 3 and 9, you will suffer some nitrogen burn marks on your wrists. plus whatever other injuries resulting from the crash itself.

 

supposedly, the air bag risk zone is the first 2-3 inches away from the bag. if you sit at 10" or more, you will be ok (breastbone to wheel distance).

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dependent on the design of the steering wheel it will either be a 2 piece or 1 piece break away section. just from looking at the wheel you can tell most of the time. if there is a horizontal line across the wheel it is a 2 piece, and no horizontal line = 1 piece.

 

ive actually set a few airbags off just for fun in auto class and man they make one hell of a explosion. amazingly all it takes is a little 9v battery to deploy them. if you face the bag section down and deploy it, it will jump up about 20 feet. :)

 

but as others have said when it deploys it "could" break your arm/hand if its right over it.

 

 

o and btw if you do set one off or you have one go off in an accident dont breath in the fumes from the discharge it reeks. multiply the clutch stink by 10 and add a dash of sulfer(rotten egg smell) and you have the general idea about how it smells.

Work hard. Play even harder.

 

My Garage

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Airbags by far save more lives than they harm. True, having hot explosive gas filling a balloon you do a faceplant in causes mild injuries, but I have had people walk away with minimal injuries from accidents that surely would have caused serious injuries if not death. (spend one day in a trauma center and you will become a much slower and more careful driver!)

 

You may hear anecdotal stories of people who were worse off because their airbag deployed, but the simple fact is airbags save lives.

 

I'll get off my soap box now.

 

tom

tom :)

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Sell you car immediately! It is more dangerous than Vioxx.

 

Well, Vioxx is probably no more dangerous than other common anti-inflammatories (Motrin, Alleve, etc) and should be safe for short term use. But not a good idea if you have or are likely to have a heart condition. The real issue is that the company covered up data. They are literally going to pay for this one.

 

But I agree, you should sell your car now! :icon_bigg Or get one of those remoter starters. :)

 

tom

tom :)

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it gonna keel you.

 

Well no, but the point is it will generally save you. Yes, the airbag will break noses, arms, etc... However, it most (obviously not all) but most cases, you would have been far worse off than you were before. My brother-in-law decided he needed to move his engine up and over about 8" or so, so allowed the tree to accomodate nicely (granted not on purpose :) however, w/o the airbag he would have been chewing on windshield instead. Not a bad tradeoff...

 

 

I'll agree that airbags save lives, but I still hate them. But I also hate seat belts with exception of when I'm racing (they keep me in the seat).

 

lol

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