Airbag

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 06 Aug 2006, 21:32

I've just got myself a rather nice 1997 VSX 2.0 16v BUT with a few niggles fixed it will be a very nice car...

One problem that cannot be missed is the constant flashing of the airbag warning whenever the ignition is on/engine running anytime whatever...

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of these at the best of times anf the Cx's & Xm's I use and drive at higher speeds don't worry me their not having airbags fitted. What I can do for myself is fit an early non airbag steering wheel thus bypassing half the problem and then with or without the airbag light the MOT man cannot fail an airbag if it isn't present. The old addage that the MOT man has told me over the years is if it isn't fitted he cannot fail it if it's a supplementary fitting, rather than a required by regs fitting.

Thing is, IS the airbag required on this '97 car - are they compulsory - does anyone know?

I take it that if I need to get the windbag going again it'll be the sliding switching gummins on the steering wheel electrics to the steering column?

I'd rather do without this potentially awkward extra though I accept it would probably not be a good selling point should I want to move the car on in the future!!

Any advice anyone? Out of interest, I've bolted a poll on here to see what you guys feel about these things!

Andrew

teethgrinder · Post by **teethgrinder** » 06 Aug 2006, 21:50

AFAIK, airbags are not compulsory, although I would imagine that you would need to tell your insurance company if you remove it. I think TVR's do not come with airbags, or other nonsense like ABS...Robin

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 06 Aug 2006, 22:08

teethgrinder wrote:AFAIK, airbags are not compulsory, although I would imagine that you would need to tell your insurance company if you remove it. I think TVR's do not come with airbags, or other nonsense like ABS...Robin

Bollo**s - never thought of the insurance aspect - good point - anyone parting a S2 with a gwo steering electrical connection?

Andrew

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 06 Aug 2006, 22:20

Damn, initial polling suggests I'll have to fix the damned thing!!

I thought these things were designed by car manufactures for lazy obese Americans who don't like to have a strap seatbelt wrapping snugly over them but who are STILL likely to sue anything that moves even if it's their fault anyhow!!

Andrew

teethgrinder · Post by **teethgrinder** » 06 Aug 2006, 22:49

Airbags in the US are a lot larger than airbags in Europe...the 'SRS' on the housing stands for ' Supplementary Restraint System '. WE tend to wear seat belts, therefore they are smaller than airbags in countries where they tend not to wear belts.

Robin

deian · Post by **deian** » 06 Aug 2006, 23:09

they are massive over here too u know, and we legally have to wear seatbelts too, i always do since seeing someone die because of not wearing one!

kang0o · Post by **kang0o** » 06 Aug 2006, 23:25

I had a nasty one a month or so ago, a near head on. A car on the opposite carrage way lost control under breaking at a roundabout, and speared me off the road at about '1 o'clock' impact angle.
Undoubtably the airbag worked well and whiplash and head injuries were keep to a minimum.
Get it fixed! these things have explosives in them FFS. You really wouldn't want it going off when driving on a mototrway, or not atall if the worst happens.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 07 Aug 2006, 00:41

kang0o wrote:I had a nasty one a month or so ago, a near head on. A car on the opposite carrage way lost control under breaking at a roundabout, and speared me off the road at about '1 o'clock' impact angle.
Undoubtably the airbag worked well and whiplash and head injuries were keep to a minimum.
Get it fixed! these things have explosives in them FFS. You really wouldn't want it going off when driving on a mototrway, or not atall if the worst happens.

Does sound nasty. You can never countenance the idiot factor even when you're 100% focussed and on top of things with what you're doing.

What were you driving at the time? Was it a Citroen?

If I have to sort my airbag light problem I will, I just personally don't like airbags - used to driving a Cx with it's big totally pared to nothing single spoke wheel.

I feel uneasy about the programmed deformation approach that was used for the Xm & Xantia designs. An airbag wont stop the engine climbing through the footwell in a Xantia, but I do like the belt and braces approach Citroen used with the substantial front subframe loop as part of a major chassis as well as the monocoque shell in a Cx which would hold back a lot...

I drive an XM V6 24v which has a huge lump with seemingly sparce front engine lashings to keep the engine where it's supposed to be, and this does worry me even when I'm not going hard; after all these days the falling fuel gauge is a good speed limiter!

The outcome of a recent 5th gear programme on Sky pointed to the new NCAP rated 4-5 star cars being harder and less yielding to deformation and energy absorbtion in a collision with the verdict that you really don't want one to run into your 7-8 year old car as you'll pack the full punch before they get into trouble; this makes the impact less than evenly matched with poor odds on something like a Xantia...

Andrew

KP · Post by KP » 07 Aug 2006, 01:32

Id think the sheer wieght of the average Xantia would help it win most of the battle! Try push starting one of the buggers!!

My coupe has a very strong shell and the engines dont seem to encrouch on any impacts ive seen of them but i do like the idea of the engine being able to break free quite easily as it means it can make its merry way away from the car as quickly as possible, usually under the car iirc and leave me be

Ross_K · Post by **Ross_K** » 07 Aug 2006, 01:36

On a nine or ten year old car I wouldn't get my hopes up for the airbag going off in a smash anyway. Aren't they, in theory, supposed to be replaced every ten years? Yeah, I know, who does that?

I've seen plenty of Citroens and Pugs of that age in scrapyards with intact steering wheel airbags and a destroyed front end.

As regards insurance, you just know that the insurance company would screw you in the event of an accident if you did remove it. Any old excuse not to cough up...

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 07 Aug 2006, 07:12

It's not a sliding contact on mine, it's a great big coil of ribbon cable.

ACTIVE8 · Post by **ACTIVE8** » 07 Aug 2006, 09:33

andmcit wrote:Damn, initial polling suggests I'll have to fix the damned thing!!

I thought these things were designed by car manufactures for lazy obese Americans who don't like to have a strap seatbelt wrapping snugly over them but who are STILL likely to sue anything that moves even if it's their fault anyhow!!

Andrew

Well how about this design, it's for the lazy obese American driver.

Notice the fact that it's built into the door, so that when a person gets in, and fastens it then they do not need to release it again.

This is because as it's attached to the door, it opens with the door away from the user, saving the trouble time and effort of having to undo it.

Now, that's very lazy !!

Take a look at the image entitled "belt retracts into door."

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=bel ... =N&ndsp=20

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 07 Aug 2006, 12:06

Airbag warnings generally have an easy fix-there's normally a sensor in the seat that is part of the airbag system. Shove junk under the chair or adjust the seat a lot and the connections get damaged or seperated.

Check, clean, and plug them back in again and the light will probably stop flashing- there's no danger of it going off if you fiddle with this connection, as it's only a sensor to check if there's anyone sitting on the seat or not.

Some systems also set the light flashing if a fuse fails in the circuit as well.

These systems are normally very reliable- they have to be as you want the thing to work, but not to go off when it's not meant to, so even the simplest of faults will flash up as a warning. It's extremely unlikely that there's anything wrong with the steering wheel bits.

weety · Post by **weety** » 07 Aug 2006, 18:27

has it got a passenger airbag? if it has its probably the connection under the passenger seat.....apparently their can be a problem if a er larger person sits there as the seat can crush the connector (well thats what the garage told my ex wife about her xsara's air bag problem.....we decided not to tell her largish brother)

nick · Post by **nick** » 07 Aug 2006, 19:35

Ross_K wrote:On a nine or ten year old car I wouldn't get my hopes up for the airbag going off in a smash anyway. Aren't they, in theory, supposed to be replaced every ten years? Yeah, I know, who does that?

I've seen plenty of Citroens and Pugs of that age in scrapyards with intact steering wheel airbags and a destroyed front end.

Most manufacturers extended theoretical life of airbags from 10 years to 15 not so long ago. This applied retrospectively too.
The steering wheel airbags fitted to European cars are usually designed to go off only in quite a severe impact as a last resort (ie in preference to someone's head hitting the wheel), so its not that surprising to see quite badly damaged cars with airbags still intact.

I recently bought some Xantia roof rails off a man who'd managed to write his Xantia off in a multi-storey carpark! Someone had spilt some oil on one of the down ramps, he came along, started to skid, panicked and hit the brakes. The wheels locked & the car slid down the ramp and smashed straight into a concrete wall.

The car was either M or N reg, but he said the airbag and seatbelt tensioners went off as they should and he escaped with no injuries. The front of the car was pretty well caved in though.
Wonder what speed he was doing?!

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