Question about air bags..[possibly for Ray O)

I was driving the other day and wondered what happens to the cover on the steering wheel when the air bag is deployed? Is it hinged to flop up or down or sideways, or is it liable to hit you in the face or chest when the bag beneath it explodes rearward? Since I've never seen an air bag go off (thankfully) except in IIHS or NHTSA videos, I have no idea. Inquiring readers wanna know.

Reply to
mack
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There are seam on the back side of the air bad cover. The sides and center seams will tear, and the upper and bottom seams will act like a hinge so it looks like a box top opening. When the air bag deploys, the cover tears open at the seams.

We used to recover all air bags that were replaced under warranty so we could deploy them for the technician classes. The proper procedure to dispose of an undeployed air bad is to place the pad face down and stack a bunch of concrete blocks and tires on top, and hook up the special service deployment tool. The tool is a metal box with a red button with a plastic cover, like what you see to launch missiles in movies. The box is hooked up to a battery, flip the cover, push the button, and the air bag blows up.

I mentioned "proper procedure" because we placed them face-up, with an empty soda can placed on top, and everyone standing about 20 feet back. The air bag sounds roughly like a 20 gauge shotgun and the soda can gets launched about 25 ~ 30 feet. Air bag deployment is so fast, it is kind of like watching popcorn - closed one moment, open the next. Accompanying an air bag deployment is a white dust cloud from the talcum powered that the bag is coated with.

Reply to
Ray O

Neither has any other person, inside a car 'seen an air bag go off.' One needs a high speed camera to 'see' the deployment. The bag is deployed in about 1/8 of a second. Unlike what one sees in the movies, or on TV, the bag does not remain inflated. The whole process, from deployment, to total defilation, takes less than a second. The first thing which one would be aware is the bag will be laying in ones lap.

Not to worry, the chances of being involved in a collision that deploys the SRS is rather slim, in any event. Annually, only one in eight vehicles is involved in an accident. Less than 8%, of the sixteen to eighteen million new vehicles sold in the US annually, will EVER be in an accident sufficient to deploy the SRS in ITS LIFETIME. Only around TWO percent of those that is in an accident, in ITS LIFETIME, will EVER be in an accident that leads to deployment of the side air bag system

By the way the cover(s) goes downward Now you know ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

According to this theory, if your hand are at 10 and 2 your hands hit you in the face. If your hands are at 12 and 6, does one hand hit you on top of the head and the other hit you in the crotch?

Seriously, if both of the driver's hands are on nthe steering wheel, a deploying air bag will not do anything with the driver's hands except for a possible mild burn from the releif vent on the back side of the air bag.

A steering wheel-mounted air bag is just barely larger in diameter than the steering wheel.

Reply to
Ray O

I had the chance to witness a airbag deployment in a parking lot. It was QUITE IMPRESSIVE to say the least. These babies go off it's about equal to a small bomb with a loud report. Everybody (except me) jumped, LOL.

I was told that people who had the bad luck of an accident was not aware of the deployment other than the bag in their face. It happens fast. Personally I'm glad I have an air bag and all the other safety devices on board my Sienna.

Reply to
dbu,.

Many thanks, fellas, for your information on air bags.

Several years ago at a display of Audis in San Diego, I overheard a gent telling the hostess that he was all for airbags, although one had broken his glasses ...and his nose. But it had saved him from further damage in a headon collision. As he said, better to break your nose on a big balloon than to break your face on a big windshield!

Reply to
mack

:-) Yup, that'd be the reason they're put everywhere these days and significant weight is added to most modern cars with them. Many have steering wheel, passenger dash, door window and lower door covering ones that pop down to protect you in side impacts and im fairly sure theres more in other places.

More recent advances include airbag systems that know how close you are to the steering wheel (presumably by seat-rail sensors) to they can trigger variable detonation and no snap your neck if youre 75 and sit on top of the wheel :)

J
Reply to
Coyoteboy

The only way a driver's hands are going to be pushed towards the driver's face is if the driver's hands are not gripping the steering wheel and are positioned between the air bag and the driver's face, in which case the driver's hands will be trapped between the driver's body moving towards the steering wheel and the air bag. As Mike Hunter points out, an air bag deploys and deflates so quickly that most people have no recollection of the deployment. A bruise on the face is more likely a result of the drive not wearing a seat belt or wearing it improperly.

Reply to
Ray O

There is usually a 'weak point' in the center of the cover. On a lot of cars, you can see the 'seam', like in Fords. This splits and allows the airbag to deploy.

Even if it doesn't look like there's a seam, there is. They put it on the INSIDE now!

Reply to
Hachiroku

I guess it isn't a good idea to pick your nose or talk on a cell phone while the air bag deploys?

Reply to
Scott in Florida

I really don't like the idea of an airbag going off... especially with such force. I think I might rather just hit the steering wheel and likely die.

On that note, what're the statistics, if any, about airbags going off inadvertently? That's what really scares me. A 10mph crash that causes the airbags to go off.

Reply to
mrsteveo

Get an older Corolla like my '92 Wagon.

No airbags to scare ya...

Reply to
Scott in Florida

I am not aware of any instances where an air bag in a Toyota deployed inadvertently. Supplemental restraint systems (SRS) have multiple deceleration sensors. In the case of the front air bags, there are 3: two in the front fenders or near the bumpers, and one in the passenger compartment under the center console or under the dashboard. At least 2 of the sensors have to detect a severe enough deceleration to be a crash before the air bag will deploy.

The air bag deploys with a pretty fair amount of force because by the time a signal is sent to the firing squib, the collision has already occurred and the driver's torso is traveling towards the steering wheel so it has to be inflated before the driver's torso arrives. There are large vents on the back side of the air bag, so as soon as the torso hits the bag, the gas inside is pushed out of the vents.

Reply to
Ray O

If the driver's hands are anywhere near the rim of the steering wheel when the air bag deploys, no matter what o'clock, the hands will *not* be propelled back towards the driver, firm grip or loose. The air bag deploys between the steering wheel, where the drivers' hands are, and the driver. In other words, the driver's hands are not in the path of the air bag and the air bag does not contact the driver's hands.

Reply to
Ray O

OR smoke a pipe LOL

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

Generally the forces of the collision must be sufficient to satisfy two or more sensors to deploy the SRS at 35 MPH. However if the "safing" sensor is satisfied, by full braking pressure, along with only one other sensor the SRS will deploy as low as eight MPH, as in offset colision. With a rear collision of sufficient force it is possible that the SRS will deploy, but it is a result or rebound and after the fact.

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

OR save your life. ;)

mike

Reply to
Mike Hunter

I recall reading somewhere, I think it was the SAE monthly magazine a long time ago, that an unintended consequence of increased air bag installation was that hospitals were treating more people for injuries to the lower extremities after crashes because people were surviving what used to be fatal crashes. Nobody kept statistics on how many people who were killed in crashes had broken leg bones.

Reply to
Ray O

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