Does your car airbag work?

WHAT AIRBAG?

Last week, there was a lot of buzz on and off the internet about an accident that occurred around the Challenge area in Ibadan, where a young undergraduate of a private university (may his soul rest in peace) in Ibadan and some other people lost their lives in a road traffic crash.

Few days later, I visited the scene of the accident, and saw the vehicle decimated. Also observed was what is becoming a common sight in a lot of crashed vehicles seen recently, which is, “un- deployed airbags”. Both the driver and passenger airbags were intact on the totalled Mazda 6!

For a vehicle built between 2002 and 2008 and equipped with at least 6 airbags , which included front and rear curtain airbags, only one thing could explain the situation of this safety feature, It was out of commission!

In recent times, it has been observed that, a lot of used imported vehicles that are being sold at various car marts across the country, have been involved in one form of collision or the other and often times the airbags has deployed as it should. These vehicle are then repaired (aesthetically) and placed on display at various car-marts across the nation. Technically, these vehicles are not “crash worthy”

Many unsuspecting /ignorant people purchase and drive these vehicles around with decommissioned, faulty, or at best expired airbags. When people visit our workshop with such vehicles and the obvious fact is pointed out to them, responses such as “I won’t be needing it anyway or “Airbag? God forbid any accident” are blurted out by the owners. These reactions are quite amusing, knowing accidents are what they are, Accidents!

Airbags are not just accessories, they save lives, in fact I have a personal experience of being saved by it, in a ghastly motor accident! Airbags are not mere decorations, they are part of the Supplemental Restraint System, which is also a part of the safety features on vehicles, meaning they do not work alone but alongside other components. Over the years technology has improved, and research has never stopped on vehicles, and by extension their safety features.

Airbags are stretchable fabrics or other materials that are tightly packed in various locations throughout the vehicle. In the event of an accident, the airbags inflate and deploy very quickly to provide a cushioning system for the people in the car so that they are not thrown around in the event of a crash. It may not totally prevent injury or death; it can be quite helpful in cushioning the effect on passengers in a car in many cases.

From the steering wheel to dashboard, seat-belts, doors, pillars, and most recently hoods. Occupants are expected to be safely sandwiched between these “inflated ballons” when a crash occurs to save their lives. There are vehicles with as low as eight units, others with more and the number can go as high as 32 units, on luxury cars.

The idea of an airbag is to take advantage of the science behind a crash, when one occurs, the airbag doesn’t just soften the blow; it actually lowers the impact by stretching out over a longer period of time. It alsospreads the impact over a larger area of the body. That way, no single area (forehead, chin, neck) bears the entire brunt of it. That is why airbags inflate and then quickly deflate to gradually bring the driver’s momentum from any speed to zero.

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There are many parts of an airbag system we have an accelerometer; a circuit; a heating element; an explosive charge; and the bag itself. There are also sensors and actuators in the airbag system. Most modern airbags are actually equipped to have some level of intelligence to them which is why they are equipped with computers known as Supplemental Restraint System Module , what it does is to perform scientific calculation based on location, speed, severity of the impact, coupled with weight of the occupant and other variables that apply when a crash occurs, to determine the appropriate response time and deployment area for the system.

For instance, the occupant detection/ classification system calculates the weight of the passenger occupying the various seats in the vehicle and uses that to determine the rate, the speed at which the airbags will deploy on that side, and the seat belt pretensioner gets to lock the passenger to

the seat, with both systems fully functional, the vehicle is likely to understand fully the mass and the body weight of the passenger occupying that seat and uses that to determine how the airbag deploys, when it deploys and the intensity with which it deploys.

If the Airbag/SRS indicator doesn’t come on when the ignition is in stage 2 or remains illuminated while the engine is running, the system defective and needs prompt attention. A computerised scan will reveal the cause of the problem and it can thereafter be resolved.

Question remains how crash worthy is your vehicle? Do you have a vehicle that be able to give you basic protection if an accident happens? Remember, accidents do not seek anybody’s permission to happen. It’s important you ask yourself if it is better to own a vehicle that is good looking without an airbag or have a functional vehicle with a functional airbag that can save your life when required?