Are you sure your airbag / seatbelt will protect you?
Discussion
Neighbour has just been hit head-on by a car that skidded on ice and is on her way to hospital with chest pains...
Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
A distant in-law of my nephew was killed when it seems he had drifted across the road into the path of a lorry.
Despite it being a head-on at speed, the airbags did not deploy.
Advice from the medics was that had they, he may still be alive today.
His family have sold their own Audi's , 6 off, as they feel they can't trust them.
Despite it being a head-on at speed, the airbags did not deploy.
Advice from the medics was that had they, he may still be alive today.
His family have sold their own Audi's , 6 off, as they feel they can't trust them.
In defence of car manufacturers / service agents, how the hell do you test an airbag to see if it would go off, without actually setting it off and deploying it? It's a bit like the fireworks left over on Nov 5th, that didn't go off for some inexplicable reason!
However, it made me think... You kind of assume that these things will work, but maybe it would be safer if we all drove in a manner that assumed they WOULDN'T!
Most alarming for me, though, was that fact that the seat-belt buckle snapped In fact, if the airbag HAD deployed, without a seatbelt, she may very well have been more seriously injured - by the airbag itself, as you don't want your face anywhere near the steering wheel when those things go off!
However, it made me think... You kind of assume that these things will work, but maybe it would be safer if we all drove in a manner that assumed they WOULDN'T!
Most alarming for me, though, was that fact that the seat-belt buckle snapped
In fact, if the airbag HAD deployed, without a seatbelt, she may very well have been more seriously injured - by the airbag itself, as you don't want your face anywhere near the steering wheel when those things go off!kVA said:
Neighbour has just been hit head-on by a car that skidded on ice and is on her way to hospital with chest pains...
Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Air bag systems are quite clever in their programing and will only deploy when needed, anyone remember that Fifth Gear episode with the head on crash at 70mph (IIRC) between a new and old Espace? the old one was destroyed, but the new one's airbags didn't deploy because the imapct wasn't severe enough.Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Maybe in this case, the car was hit at an angle where a front airbag isn't required, the the seatbelt buckle snapping, well as highlighted "it seems" that way. It could also be that the seatbelt wasn't on correctly?
CoolC said:
kVA said:
Neighbour has just been hit head-on by a car that skidded on ice and is on her way to hospital with chest pains...
Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Air bag systems are quite clever in their programing and will only deploy when needed, anyone remember that Fifth Gear episode with the head on crash at 70mph (IIRC) between a new and old Espace? the old one was destroyed, but the new one's airbags didn't deploy because the imapct wasn't severe enough.Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Maybe in this case, the car was hit at an angle where a front airbag isn't required, the the seatbelt buckle snapping, well as highlighted "it seems" that way. It could also be that the seatbelt wasn't on correctly?
CoolC said:
kVA said:
Neighbour has just been hit head-on by a car that skidded on ice and is on her way to hospital with chest pains...
Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Air bag systems are quite clever in their programing and will only deploy when needed, anyone remember that Fifth Gear episode with the head on crash at 70mph (IIRC) between a new and old Espace? the old one was destroyed, but the new one's airbags didn't deploy because the imapct wasn't severe enough.Not only did the airbag not deploy, but the seatbelt buckle snapped and she hit the steering wheel, it seems!
Still feel safe, with your umpteen airbags and pre-tensioning seatbelts, etc.?
Maybe in this case, the car was hit at an angle where a front airbag isn't required, the the seatbelt buckle snapping, well as highlighted "it seems" that way. It could also be that the seatbelt wasn't on correctly?
As for the seatbelt, I think it must have been done up correctly as it had broken the buckle clean in two!
I did wonder if the airbag didn't deploy because the seat-belt wasn't on correctly, but apparently the warning light had gone out, so the car's SRS ECU will have thought it was done up even if it wasn't. The same trigger is used to fire the seat belt pre-tensioners and the airbag, so I don't think it is possible for the airbag to be stopped if the seatbelt breaks, for example.
ETA, it wasn't a truck - it was a 'same height' impact and it was obviously severe enough for the driver to hit the steering wheel hard enough to result in a trip in an ambulance, so I would have thought the airbag should have deployed? The other car was absolutely totalled - as it was some tatty old french thing made of tinfoil and cheap plastic - so it was quite a severe impact - I would guess at least 50 mph combined? He had been going a bit quick and hit a patch of black ice, so couldn't even slow down when he lost control.
Edited by kVA on Friday 5th March 10:13
monthefish said:
Everything has a failure rate, and manufacturers can test all they want, however it just might happen that you are that 0.0000001% failure.
Of course... Having worked on both engineering and retail sides of the car industry all my working life! However, seatbelts and airbags have no useful purpose whatsoever if they don't work on the one occasion that you really, really need them! Essentially, most of these only really ever have to work ONCE in their entire lifetime, so failure on that ONE occasion is a 100% failure rate in that vehicle!Put it another way - if your brakes failed the first time the pedal was pressed you would be suing everyone in no time at all.
I posted more to highlight the fact that many of us just assume that these things will save our lives and maybe some of us take a few risks that we wouldn't take if we thought they might not work?
Stay safe folks...
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