Airbags and Safety

[Rob_88]

My 2nd gen has no airbags.

Do any of the later 2nd gens have airbags anywhere or would I need to go for a 3rd gen to get a safer car ?

What sort of airbags do the third gens have ?

[Morr]

My 2nd gen has no airbags.

Do any of the later 2nd gens have airbags anywhere or would I need to go for a 3rd gen to get a safer car ?

What sort of airbags do the third gens have ?

Only found on the 3rd Gens I'm afraid, both driver and passenger ones. Note, the passenger side one does not offer any facility to turn it off thereby ruling out fitting baby seats in the front.

[AndyLala]

Will airbags make the car safer?

Why?

[Rob_88]

Will airbags make the car safer?

Why?

Well, it might help if somebody in a pimped corsa was to crash into the front of me and I didn't want to lose all my teeth on the steering wheel.

[AndyLala]

Surely 2.5 metric tons (dry) against well under a ton would deal with that quite nicely.

sorry, I personally have a major problem with explosives used to fire these airbags used in confined spaces (my lap, or my passengers).

A properly adjusted seat belt / seating position / crumple zone, is more than sufficient to deal with these things.

[Darren]

How safe are our surfs?

When I first got mine (2nd gen) I was thinking it was really safe because it was strong and heavy which means if you hit something feeble you will go straight through it. From what I understand now though if you hit something with more force it may not be such a good thing because the surf will stop too quickly. This means in a big crash your surf stands more chance of being in one piece afterwards but your body might not be able to take stopping that quickly.
3 of my friends were involved in a head on crash 40mph each vehicle, my mates car was a late cavalier the other a more modern car of similar size, both cars crumpled considerably more than a surf would and yet except the driver (who had an airbag) the other 2 mates suffered serious injuries from stopping so quickly against the seat belts, including ruptured internal organs. Both were fortunately ok after a few weeks but that was with a car with designed crumple zones (the engine was underneath the front seats after). In a surf I fear that sort of accident would mean even greater forces on the occupants bodies and a much worse result. Someone rear ended my surf not long ago and the bumper damage was very minimal but the shock I felt inside was huge because nothing absorbed it. Having such a solid car and strengthening it further with bull bars, tow bars etc may increase the chances of your surf surviving a crash but probably decreases your chances of the occupants surviving. In short thats why I don't want a bull bar and if I had the cash I'd buy a 3rd gen for those airbags. My mate with an airbag said he felt like someone had slapped him the other two were laid up for 2 weeks in considerable pain, thats the difference airbags make.

[fatfires]

Well said mate!

When I first got mine (2nd gen) I was thinking it was really safe because it was strong and heavy which means if you hit something feeble you will go straight through it. From what I understand now though if you hit something with more force it may not be such a good thing because the surf will stop too quickly. This means in a big crash your surf stands more chance of being in one piece afterwards but your body might not be able to take stopping that quickly.
3 of my friends were involved in a head on crash 40mph each vehicle, my mates car was a late cavalier the other a more modern car of similar size, both cars crumpled considerably more than a surf would and yet except the driver (who had an airbag) the other 2 mates suffered serious injuries from stopping so quickly against the seat belts, including ruptured internal organs. Both were fortunately ok after a few weeks but that was with a car with designed crumple zones (the engine was underneath the front seats after). In a surf I fear that sort of accident would mean even greater forces on the occupants bodies and a much worse result. Someone rear ended my surf not long ago and the bumper damage was very minimal but the shock I felt inside was huge because nothing absorbed it. Having such a solid car and strengthening it further with bull bars, tow bars etc may increase the chances of your surf surviving a crash but probably decreases your chances of the occupants surviving. In short thats why I don't want a bull bar and if I had the cash I'd buy a 3rd gen for those airbags. My mate with an airbag said he felt like someone had slapped him the other two were laid up for 2 weeks in considerable pain, thats the difference airbags make.

As a recently retired fire officer I can only echo those sentiments...things I have seen - you probably would not like to
just 2 examples though

large older rover car -v- 2 cv rover 1 fatal. 2cv small cuts & scratches - the 2cv was about 50 mtrs from impact site but as it was so light the energy was degraded by the motor taking off probably faster than ever before

My volvo 240 est -v- renault 9 head on, my familly survived minor injuries only and all walked away, car totaled, crumple zones excelent, passenger cell intact. renault ended in 2 bits only reason driver survived was he was pi**ed and relaxed but still had some nasty injuries
Belts, airbags and crumple zones do save lives
Please do not think that the wonderfull motor we drive is invincible or if it allmost is, remember you and yours are not
Old Git type 'sage' rant over
be safe, keep the rubber bits down reasonably near to terra firma
oh & by the way check your smoke alarm indoors too!!!!!!!
Tony

[AndyLala]

Point taken...


however, still don't like airbags though. Would prefer to keep away from other road users as much as possible.

I have also as a driver, been involved in a couple of incidents that I shouldn't have walked away from, both cars with airbags in, and in both major incidents, it was the crumple zones, seat position and seat belts that allowed me to walk away. The airbags should have, but didn't deploy in both.

[fatfires]

risk assessment

Point taken...


however, still don't like airbags though. Would prefer to keep away from other road users as much as possible.

straight out of the text book mate, if all control measures fail isolate problem/ best control measure - separation!!
Tony

[Darren]

Easier said than done, I was stopped at a pedestrian crossing when a car drove into the back of me, you should have seen how high the kid crossing the road jumped at the bang as the car hit me. It's a good job the surf is heavy a lighter car might have been shunted into the kid. I guess there are positives and negatives for all that weight.
Darren

[TonyN]

I won't lose any sleep over not having airbags, not bothered if a car has them either. It's all a state of mind,

183,000 total injuries to car users last year, according to Gov. figures, out of how many millions of road journeys? (only figure I could find was 300 billion kilometers travelled for cars and taxis in the UK for 2002)

Pretty slim chance to me, more likely to win the lottery.

[fatfires]

I won't lose any sleep over not having airbags, not bothered if a car has them either. It's all a state of mind,

183,000 total injuries to car users last year, according to Gov. figures, out of how many millions of road journeys? (only figure I could find was 300 billion kilometers travelled for cars and taxis in the UK for 2002)

Pretty slim chance to me, more likely to win the lottery.

hope you win the lottery and not be in a position to need airbags
Tony

[Dog_Book]

Some really good points there guys....

Hey, would roll cages and helmets help like in rallying? Not really meant as a joke but those cars have mad crashes and the occupents still get out...

[fatfires]

Some really good points there guys....

Hey, would roll cages and helmets help like in rallying? Not really meant as a joke but those cars have mad crashes and the occupents still get out...

the most important thing those guys have is the neck roll brace - protect the brain stem and upper spine, even formula 1 now have the shoulder brace.
seriosly the difference in injuries changed in the 20 yrs I was in the service, less fatalities now, but I would like to think the emergency boys now have better training add that to design of the motors - it all adds up!
BUT lets not forget that a lot of us are driving motors not so young, If I could afford it I would have a motor with multiple bags and wear a full harness, as it is I drive a nice big deterant, even so there are still pratts that can't see us!!!!!
stay safe guys and girls - it's not the nut that holds the wheel on it's the one behind it
second mini rant over - sorry but when you've had to do.....nuf said!
tony

ooh I do feel better now

[mart 870]

I race a Stock Car (no not a banger) and we get subjected to all sorts of impacts, for example a fortnight ago i raced at Northampton and on the Saturday i rolled my car for the first time and on the Sunday i got put into the steel plated fence hard at around 60mph (hard enough to move a solidly mounted engine forward 2 inch).

My car has no crumple zones and any impact is passed straight onto me. The car is fitted with a 5 point, 3 inch webbing harness which i wear so tight you can hardly breath and most importantly i wear a neck brace. After the forementioned crash i suffered slight bruising from the harness, a touch of whiplash and on the Monday i felt a bit sick and dizzy which to be fair after a hit like that isnt at all too bad.

My point is that road cars (Surfs included) dont have strong roll cages, tight 5 point harnesses and people just dont wear crash helmets and neck braces. 3 point seat belts arent the best in the world at stopping bodies moving about in a crash (and thats when people can be bothered to wear them!) so to me air bags wether it be front, side curtain or whatever can only be a good thing and crumple zones do a great job of slowing down deacceleration.

Just because your truck is build like a tank it doesn’t mean hitting something isn’t going to hurt, saying all that I drive about in a car with the air bag light shining at me because it doesn’t work lol