99 Airbag

Murray, I'm probably going to sound like a d*****ad, but here goes, anyway..... the airbag is trying to tell you that you should get someone trained and experienced in airbag system repair to read codes and repair the system. These systems have a very real chance of changing the way that we (or our widows) live.

Sorry, guy.... that's the only airbag advice I give...

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

Jim,

I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I value your expertise and advise, but I don't think an airbag is any sacred-cow safety device. I have, in the past, driven many, many miles in cars not equiped with them. And you know, all of my motorcycles still don't have 'em. So I think not having an airbag is not the worst thing in the world that could happen to someone.

I have even seen studies that suggest they are not all that they are cracked up to be (bad pun intentional) in terms of injury protection since they only work in head-on situations. Personally, and I imagine you'll agree, I think not having your seatbelt fastened is a much bigger issue, safety-wise, than not having bag blow up in your face when you slam into something.

But it is certainly your perogative to give advice only where you see fit...

Regards,

-Fred W

Air bags are meant to be a supplimentary restraint. By their design that means the seatbelt and car are still supposed to do the protection, while the air bad kinda helps out via trying to slow you from hitting the dash.

In the U.S. the goverment has determined that an airbag should deploy with enough force to stop a 300 pound man hitting a brick wall at 70 mph and not wearing a seat belt. Now if you look at that info you can see why 80%+ of people have injuries, brokens arms and noses the most common followed by a bruised heart and lungs, when an airbag goes off.

Next you have europe who actually follows the idea that air bags are supposed to be suppliments. Their air bags are designed to slow a 200 pound person going 35 mph, 35 being the limit to what is considered a fatal crash, and wearing a seatbelt. Europeans have less than a 25% airbag injury rate.

Now don't get me wrong, I think air bags are a wonderfull thing but perhaps we should use them the way they were meant to be used, not as a primary restraint. Then alot less people will be getting injured from crashes that they should't be getting injured in in the first place.

My 2 cents worth, Tony

My take on Jim's post is that you could be injured while trying to repair the airbag system. I have also read warnings in manuals to that effect. With my very limited knowledge of these systems, I believe his advice is very good. H

Yeah, I had considered that, but figured nased on the reference to the "widow" this was no the case.

In any case, it is probably good advice to bring it to an expert.

-Fred W

Having attended way too many many accidents as a member of our local fire service, I feel safe in saying that airbags (when used in conjucntion with properly worn seatbelts) do save lives and can reduce the severity of the injuries. Without seatbelts, SRS systems are nearly useless since there is no way to keep the front seat occupants anywhere near where they should be for the airbags to be effective. The downside to airbags is that they do cause some minor injuries..... I would much rather suffer these inconveniences rather than something more severe.

I cannot understand why anyone would be surprised that frontal SRS protection only works in head on situations.... the airbag is designed to absorb a bodies momentum, not to deflect it (which would certainly make any injuries even worse).

A cars windshield is, in some instances, part of the airbag system - especially in the case of passenger side units. Since our faces apply pressure to one surface of the bag, there needs to be a reactive member to the system else the device would inflate and simply flop around. I'm going to bite my tongue about the motorcycle bit...

Having said that, my original advice was to warn the OP that there are many dangers lurking in the SRS system. I routinely activate any "faulty" devices as a display for members of emergency services to serve as a reminder when attending MVAs with nondeployed devices. An unintentional deployment of an airbag has more than enough energy to kill someone not in the correct juxtaposition with the device. The last thing that I would want is for someone to be injured or worse while following any repair advice that I might offer.

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

I think you mssed the point Jim's trying to make. Airbags can injure or kill those who muck around with them withgout knowing what they are doing. I seriously doubt Jim's preaching about the efficacy of airbags, but rather attempting to prevent someone from getting hurt.

And, yes, in fact, it *IS* his perogative to give advice only when he sees fit. Remember, you're not paying for it; he gives freely what most mechanics charge a hefty amount for.

Bill Funk Change "g" to "a"

Yep, I did overlook that.

I know. That's why I tried to word my message as carefully as I could and even stated so in my post. I appreciate all he does for people on this group and he has helped me in the past directly.

-Fred W

I have a similar problem as the original poster. My light is flashing 37. I have read where 36 means a loose electrical connection under the driver's seat and 37 means a loose connection under the passenger's seat. While I understand and appreciate the advice to take the vehicle in to a mechanic, I think it is good information before doing so to know the nature of the problem so you have some idea of how difficult the problem is to solve and therefore about how much it should cost to solve. Being an informed consumer is always good. With all that said, can anyone confirm what I have read about the meaning of the codes (36 & 37) and if that is the problem, is it fair to assume this should be less than a 1 hour repair? Thanks in advance, Chris

I haven't checked the code description but, if the problem is "under the passenger seat" we could be dealing with (most likely) a component or a wiring problem. The component repair is likely going to require much less time than wiring diagnostics and repair.

I could state that (in the case of a component failure) that labour will be less than 1.5 hours..... OTOH, if there is indeed a wiring problem and component replacement wont solve it, someone is going to be real upset when that 1.5 goes out the window. It's tough to give a finite answer.....

I will say that, if you distrust your tech, you need to do something about it....... Choosing a shop or tech is no different than choosing a doctor.... the only difference is that doctors get to bury their mistakes whilst ours will come back to haunt us if left unresolved.

HTH