Have you ever experienced an airbag deploy?

-Chris-

Inspired by another thread, I just thought I'd ask who has experienced an airbag deploying.

Me personally, I've been lucky enough that I've only seen it happen in controlled circumstances - the lads in the Renault training center set off a steering wheel airbag for us at a safety demonstration.

It was shockingly loud and violent, and remained too hot to touch for quite a while.

I've also heard of people getting burns on the inside of their arms from the driver's airbag deploying.

What's your experience?

Jonnykitedude

Mate of mine was driving his 316 on the back roads to Trim,hit a pothole and about 2 mins later both airbags went off on the passenger side burning his girlfriends arm.
Never got any compo from the CoCo to pay for it.

tin79

yes i have. Loud and violent alright, but i am tall and sit well back from the wheel so my face never made contact and i was only doing maybe 40km (surpised it went off actually). Didnt get burned or anything so i guess i got lucky.

B00MSTICK

Whoa they sound dangerous for a "safety" device

Never seen one deploy myself

jayok

Yep - lost control of my Civic in 2003 and managed to put it into a ditch. Main impact was on the rear of the car (the car was spinning) so the airbags were deployed as the rear collision occurred. As such my head was firmly in the head rest when they deployed (driver & passenger).

I remember them deploying and in the fraction of the second they took to deploy I was thinking "feck, now that these are out this must be a serious crash I am in" as the car was still going. Got burned on the inside of my right arm where the bag exhaust was. It was only minor though nothing that would scar me.

Got footage of the aftermath of the crash somewhere here. Was surprised by the size of the passenger airbag and the dust everywhere.

Padraig Mor

Unfortunately witnessed one up close and personal! TBH they inflate and deflate in a fraction of a second so you actually don't really see them. Just left with a burning smell and the bag hanging down from the steering wheel.

Yakult

probably a stupid question, but why are they so hot that they would burn a person?

sorta related lol
http://www.break.com/index/air_bag_explosion_under_nuts.html

Hotwheels

All I remember was loud bang and a white flash, I was out for several seconds, I think
I was doing about 95 Kmph when a van crossed my path...they work, that's all I know, wouldn't want a car without them...

Wibbler

Yeah, I managed to deploy mine on my 99 Golf, while scoring a full 9.9 from the judges for a perfectly executed "flip on roof and slide combo".

I was trundling along under the speed limit on the road before Dolly Heffernan's near Blanchardstown. I was unfamiliar with the road and was caught off guard by a sharp right-hander that had looked pretty innocuous on approach (no thanks to the signage :-). It was only when I was upon it that I realised just how tight it was. I ended up going wide onto some gravel and from there I was just a passenger. I mounted the verge, went airborne, hit a hedge and bounced back upside down into the middle of the bend. I was blessed that there was no oncoming traffic of traffic following close behind.

I'm certainly glad I had the bags, because I walked away from that with not a scratch, yet the car was totaled. I remember the bags going off and thinking "ooooh sh1t, this is it" followed by ringing in my ears as I sat upside down in the drivers seat.

It's funny how self preservation kicks in. I calmly undid my belt, crawled out the drivers side window and flagged down the first car behind then asked the driver if I could use his phone. You should have seen the face on him.

It was only that evening the gravity of the thing hit me. Don't want to do that again - ever!

moose112

dam taxi ran a red light at newlands cross. scariest moment of my life girlfriend and friend in car.
Happened one year ago girlfriend still getting treatment.
Was driving a corrolla reckon the tough little car saved our lives.

-Chris-

R_H_C_P wrote: »

probably a stupid question, but why are they so hot that they would burn a person?

I'm not too hot on my leaving cert physics anymore, but I think it's because if you compress a gas rapidly it generates heat.
Think of the way a bicycle pump heats up as you use it.

The explosion goes off, the airbag deploys and inflates, the air/gas inflates the bag really rapidly, generating heat.

oleras

It hit me on the tip of my nose......lol. Those seatblet tensioners are the bizz !
It was a driver side headlight to driverside headlight crash, guy came around a bend about 3 foot over the line on my side, nowhere to go really. I remember the bang, didnt see anything cos my eyes were closed .
What was scary was all the smoke/dust in the car, couldent see a thing and didnt really know where i was.

R.O.R

My sister in law somehow managed to plough straight in to the wall turning in to our estate one night, setting off the bags. Not sure if it was the impact, or the bags but she broke her left wrist (and wrote off the car).

Recently we had a car recovered in after the driver had hit the kerb with his front passenger wheel at fairly high speed (100km/h ish). Only exterior damage to the car was the wheel at a right angle to where it should be facing, but the impact was severe enough to set off both front airbags. Seeing the state of the interior makes me glad I wasn't in there - I can only imagine it's a very scary thing to happen right in front of your face. Total repair bill came to about €9,000 to rebuild the front left suspension and replace the bags and bits of the dash.

homer90

No thankfully.... But had one smash, car had no air bags tho

tc20

Its something i have wanted to experience, but i would rather do it under different circumstances!!

About 4 years ago, i had dropped herself off at the train station and on my way back home slid and lost control at a roundabout (icy morning). I was taking it very easy on the roundabout, but was surprised that the car slid.
One of the spurs to the roundabout was into a large devleopment, still under construction at the time, so the entrance was blocked by a couple of large concrete barriers (same type the use as dividers on carraigeways). The car was only travelling at 20mph when i struck the barrier, pretty much head on.
As it was a large two-lane roundabout, and because of my slow speed, i knew what was coming, so took my feet away from the pedals and waited for the impact. The bag from the collision wasn't much, but the bang from the two front airbags going off was loud!
I wound down the window and let all the smoke come out of the car.

Not something i'd like to experience again..

Wile E. Coyote

Lost control on an oil spill and hit a wall at about 90kmph. Airbag saved us but it is not something I would like to do again in a hurry. The car filled with thick smoke and I think that freaked me out more than the crash. Thought the car was on fire.