what are your thoughts on airbags?
 

my buddy got into a minor car accident yesterday. he is ok but his arms are burned up pretty bad from the airbags. he asked me this: "if a seatbelt stops you and holds you in place, what does an airbag do? cushion your head? jake- you where glasses, wouldn't that shove your glasses into your eyes or just burn your face off?" i had no response. does anyone have a first hand experience with air bags or know alot about this?

there's talk about how little lives they save but it's mainly to distribute weight and momentum to prevent serious injury

i haven't had much experience with them but i find it hard to believe someone would say they're more harm than good..

my buddies 87 BMW 3 series car got demolished front on with me and him in it.. think i showed you the pics.. car is totalled

air bags didnt deploy..

both had seatbelts on

we got out FINE, not even bruising.

^^ if they did, i wouldve been hospitalized.. i got surgery on my mouth and the wounds arent fully healed yet..

wouldve opened up

so yeah more harm

i'm just saying in general where someone would prefer to not have them in their car at all

edit:// looking at your pic, the accident didn't look severe enough to set the airbag off

I "removed" all doubt from the situation.

g

if they didnt work better than seatbelts, they wouldnt be in cars today

my friend got her thumb ripped off from an airbag that was dangling from a piece of flesh... they had to sew it back on.

i wish my car had airbags only because id have $200 on my car insurance but if i had an air bag id disconnect it so that it wouldnt deploy

air bags suck, my dads 97 monte was totaled because they were so much to replace. i hit a bmw 5 series head on both going about 25-30mph, it was an older 5 series and his didnt deploy and the ones in my monte did, he had way more exterior damage then the monte did. i wasnt wearing my seatbelt and i had no injuries from the air bag. the bag has been removed from my 91 Z28. personally i would take them outa all my cars if they had them, or once deployed i would leave them out if i fixed the car

Air bags are for sissies...I don't need to get punched in the face, I just crashed my car isn't that bad enough

air bags are theoretically a good idea, cushion the head and uper torso from the impact of an accident. the problem is that most people do not put their seat in a proper spot or hold the wheel correctly, so the real world effect is often minimized.
i know people who would have been toast without them and i know people who got hurt by them, truth is that no safety measure is perfect, just look at the number of broken ribs seats belts have rewarded people with from improper use or odd impact angles.
if your daily driver has air bags, leave them in. i woudl rather break my nose and get a skin burn from a safety pillow than find out what my steering wheel tastes like.

look at it this way, how many of you wear your seatbelts every time you go out driving? now if you happen to crash then, or some other person, you cant control, crashes into you. that bag is the savior between survival and trying to live with a steering column as a spine.

mercedes has an option called pre-safe. with this option, if the various sensors in the vehicle feel a crash is iminent, it will move the seat into an "optimum" position for the occupant's weight. it will also close the windows/sunroof, tension the seatbelts, and prepare the ETRs to fire, but thats not airbags...

airbags are used to supplement the effectiveness of a seatbelt. pretty much they are meant to cushion the driver who is still going the direction and speed of the vehicle all while the belt is holding them back...so like tim said they dont taste the steering wheel or dash. now a days, most vehicles have 2 stage airbags, each stage running on their own squib, and depending on the severity of the crash will fire accordingly. the cool stuff now is beginning to be in the seatbelts, when the ETRs fire to pull the occupant back into the seat following airbag deployment.

In a nutshell, you arent supposed to come into contact with the airbag while its exploding, you are supposed to come into contact with it post-explosion, hitting a cushion. most people dont seem to be that lucky.

that's exactly what it feels like, too. i had my one and only accident in the corsica (RIP) and the driver's airbag went off. i had my coffee cup ripped out of my hand and hot coffee all down my leg. i felt like i had just been punched in the face by a heavyweight boxer. all it did was piss me off. if i get a car that has the driver airbag in it, i think i will replace the steering wheel with one of those from Grant. neither the '69 nor the '87 have airbags - just the way i like it.

as for them saving more lives being the reason why they are in the car, i would argue that point. not everything in a car is there to save your life in an accident. why would an airbag be any different? i look at it the same as i do a cupholder - one of those recent advances in vehicle design, but NOT necessary in the least.

since i got three seatbelts tickets in one week, i wear my seatbelt everytime i get in the car - whether i am driving or riding. i do it as a reflex now, i don't even think about it.

I do.

I'd rather have an air bag then not, in almost all cases. Newer bags have improved technology that adjusts the release rate and such. And as mentioned, I do not want to taste the wheel. Did you ever see the cockpit picture of Earnhardt's car from Daytona? The wheel was mangled & blody. And he had a cage, a (poorly installed, it seems) harness, and a helmet (subbornly, an open face one).

Most people don't care about safety until after the accident. Like the bike guys who don't wear helmets until they get in accidents, then they do, like Gary Buesey (sp?). Or the guys who wear the little tiny helmets. Look at j0n's pics & story. Imagine if he were wearing one of those little skull helmets. We might all be wearing black suits today if he were. But I guess that is their 'right to choose'. :-?

I still think seat belts> ABS > air bags, but air bags have their place. If insurance companies give discounts, that means their massive stockpile of data shows clear advantage.

when I crashed the camaro, the seatbelt held me fine, I didn't move. The airbags blacked me out, gave me a rash, and made me have to replace the dash, windshield and driver's airbag

So I assume you hit the airbag? If so, how do you know the belt held you fine?

I guess they are a good idea. But....they scare the hell out of me - theres just something about knowing that something is going to come out and pretty much smash u in the face that makes me a little nervous. Plus all the stories you hear from various people about the damages that were caused by the airbags. But there again there are many stories on how they saved someones life.

I have a car with (the 94 Galant) and without (the 87 Fiero) airbags.

The problem is I haven't been in an accident with the Galant, however, it has been in several accidents before (previous owner) and the SRS light is always on. So, being that I don't fail inspection with an error in the secondary restraint system, I figure I don't need them, however I'm not even sure they will deploy should I get in an accident.

I've been in two accidents with the fiero, and in both the seatbelt certainly helped me from eating the steering wheel. It caught me like I never even moved. They weren't terribly serious accidents, however I was thankful for my seatbelt, and I always wear it, no matter what.

I don't think you need airbags, but theoretically, if they deploy before you hit it, I'd say that's a mighty fine cushion.

I got hit in a few of my cars and the airbag never deployed luckily...I don't care for them personally but seats now have load sensors that work similar to a knock sensor that the heavier you are the less resistance that goes through the sensor letting the pcm or module depending on vehicle know how hard or fast the airbag should come out...well thought out idea but if the hands arent 10'o clock and 2, you could lose an arm or if you sit too close to the wheel a blast in the face...

How would you lose an arm? Do you drive with your arms in an X? LOL

I guess the theory is they only deploy in certain situations, over a certain MPH, and at certain angles. So, barring technical issues, for a low MPH hit, they should not launch. Now if I get into head on at 65 MPH and I get some bag burns over eating the wheel, I’ll take the lesser of two evils. Burns heal better then brains.

Now they have all sorts of bags, side curtain, etc. And they do not all employ for any event. The computers calculate angles, speed, etc. The side ones are supposed to be very effective in rollovers & t-bones.

I wouldn’t lose sleep not having them, but if they are there it is good to me. I wouldn’t remove them anymore then I would remove belts or ABS. I also would not try to retro fit ABS or airbags.

Liz, I do think that means the SRS system is DOA. I might guess it was not repaired properly by whatever shop repaired it.

my friend was driving with his right hand at 12 o'clock when he crashed, bag blew and just burnt the underside of his arm, not even enough to require a bandage or any real treatment. no big deal

i do

belt locked, my back never left contact with the seatback, and i could feel the shoulder belt gripping me... the bag hit me