airbag ?

dubtom

A friend was cleaning a Toyota avensis today and I noticed the abundance of airbags, in seats,doors, dash, sterring wheel,under steering columne.It occured to me that if the car was in a minor collision,I mean by that a tip, and the bags went off, it would cause thousands of euro in damage as well as the bags needing to be replaced. For instance one on the dash blows out the front windscreen, the drivers side ejects from a seat,probably ripping it to shreds, I'm not sure how many more were positioned in seats.Although I applaud the safety aspect of all the bags, is it another money making scheme by Toyota and the rest of the manufactorers to inflict so much damage on the car when in a smack.

colm_mcm

Not quite, it is unlikely that all airbags would go off at the same time.
The Avensis comes with 9 airbags. Three of these are for frontal impacts, and six are for side impacts. (2 side, and 4 curtain)

The 4 curtain airbags prevent broken glass from entering the cabin or passengers heads from hitting the window in a side impact.

The Avensis also has an extra knee airbag for the drivers side to protect the drivers legs.

unnameduser

hmmm anything that increases safety is a plus for me

bazz26

As Colm said basically the onboard computer determins what air bags are activated at the time of impact. It really depends on the force and location of the impact.

In other words a mild frontal impact will not always mean that all 9 air bags activate at the same time. While if the car was to overturn I would assume all airbags would be activated immediately.

Air bag and other safety design features in cars are expensive ventures that are the result of alot of R & D by car manufactures which I doubt are sold as gimics. There are much cheaper more appealing things out there to sell as gimics to consumers.

Seth Brundle

The technology behind airbags is such that if & when they go off you will be glad they did as it won't be a simple car park bump.

crosstownk

It so happens that I've a crashed Avensis here that deployed the necessary airbags.........

First of all, it got hit in the left rear, kinda hard.




This impact deployed the left hand curtain aribags and the side airbag.



The impact spun the car around causing further impact on the other side, but with less force than the initial impact.



The force of the second impact was enough to deploy the right hand side curtain airbags, but not the side airbag



But as there was no frontal impact, the front airbags did not deploy.



I didn't post a picture of the deployed curtain airbags on the right hand side, but I'd say you get the idea.

The driver of this car walked away with a few minor bruises and was obviously shook up. There is a lot to be said for the safety restraint systems in modern motor vehicles.

Here's a few links on airbag design if anyones interested.

How the sensors work > http://pd.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=259966&p=21&cat=Appli

How the airbags deploy > http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/LabTutorials/Airbags/airbags.html

And cars are going to get safer as technology improves and becomes more affordable to install in mass produced cars > http://pd.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=246560&p=21&cat=Appli

Kashkai

The airbags in my car will only be triggered if the onboard computer thinks the impact is severe enough to warrant their deployment. It will also only activate the necessary airbags instead of all of them.

Bit silly questioning the financial aspect of the damage airbags can do to a car's interior. A car, while it might be your pride and joy, is just a piece of metal that can be repaired/replaced. You, I or our families aren't so easily repaired and can't be replaced.

God forbid, but if I was in a crash, the only concern I'd have is are my wife and kids unharmed. Frankly I wouldn't give a damn about the car. Thats why its insured.