Yesterday (Wednesday) at 1:45pm Vauxall Bridge London. On way to a funeral in Southwark, One almighty bang from the car, also smell of burning, frightened the life out of the wife and I.
First suspect tyre but the cause was the air bag in the front passenger seat going off.
No collision not even the door being shut.
Why did it go off?
The car is a 1998 2.5 diesel.
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Thats scary!
Can't help with why it went off, possibly a sensor or switch somewhere at fault?
Do these cars have ECUs that would have the information stored on them?
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....... Vauxall Bridge ........ a funeral ..........
Appropriate circumstances perhaps for the death of an Omega, but nevertheless I'd like to offer my condolences for your sad loss.
;-)
Edited by L'escargot on 09/01/2009 at 11:21
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The sensor is in the front door, the whole of the lower half of the door contains a moulded plastic bladder containing a sensor. This assembly is riveted to the door structure. In the event of a side crash, the bladder is crushed and the pressure spike sets off the airbag. Maybe there is some damage, or maybe the cables near the door hinge are damaged?
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Could a faulty heated seat have set the charge off?
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I seem to remember a discussion on here some time ago about how long airbags last - as this is now a 10+ year old car I wonder if this is going to become more common?
After all, the airbags are controlled by electronics, albeit with safety features etc, but how many of you are reading this forum using a PC or similar that is more than 10 years old?
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Did the airbag deploy fully? Only I would expect you to hear the bang and see it easily, but the story makes it sound as though it was not obvious.
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PCs are different as they become obsolute, but mosts PCs will happily last ten years with a new power supply, new hard drive, new optical drive and new CPU fan (all the mechanical parts basically) but after 6 years PCs become pretty much useless for the net as they can't run the modern software.
Anyway my Fiesta's manual says replace airbags every 15 years if that helps. Its 13 today so I have another 2 years to go, but I won't own the car by then anyway.
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I can't imagine that there are many cars over 10 years old that would be worth more than the cost of replacing the air bags. Anyone got any figures?
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do the airbags have to replaced for the mot? (spent ones that is)
Edited by zookeeper on 09/01/2009 at 14:04
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Pretty sure there is no requirement to have a working airbag for the MOT, but I think if the airbag warning light is on that may be a fail I am not sure. But if you can get the airbag light off then there is no reason the car would fail the MOT for having an airbag missing.
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"if you can get the airbag light off "
Say, by unscrewing it... (sorry, I'm not condoning the idea, just drawing attention to silly rules). If airbags aren't mandatory, it shouldn't matter whether they work or not!
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Pretty sure there is no requirement to have a working airbag for the MOT but I think if the airbag warning light is on that may be a fail I am not sure. But if you can get the airbag light off then there is no reason the car would fail the MOT for having an airbag missing.
The Airbag is not part of the MOT test, so it dosent matter if the light is lit.
the ABS light on the other hand has to illuminate on ignition stage and then go out after engine has started (or a reasonable time after illumunation i cant remeber wich one)
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PCs are different as they become obsolute but mosts PCs will happily last ten years with a new power supply new hard drive new optical drive and new CPU fan (all the mechanical parts basically)
I agree, Rattle, and cars are the same. How many times do we hear of faulty ECUs diagnosed to repair a problem, which turn out to be caused by a sticking/failed motor, valve or actuator? 9 times out of 10 it's a moving part that causes the problem.
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"many of you are reading this forum using a PC or similar that is more than 10 years old?"
I'm still using Windows 98 (on this computer) and I have two 10-year old laptops...
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But JBJ you make me look extravagant...
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But JBJ you make me look extravagant...
>
I would hardly have deemed it possible...
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>> But JBJ you make me look extravagant...
I would hardly have deemed it possible...
And if I were to tell you I'm off to look at a car that isn't three years old, would you believe me?
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its not for you?
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its not for you?
Made by Corgi
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"a car that isn't three years old"
We've got two of those, too.. :-)
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Not deliberate, MM. I just like keeping old stuff going (which pleases Mrs JBJ, at least)...
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Hi All
Thank you for your replies.
L'escargot,
Thank you for your sympathy but the old girl is still going well. South Wales to Southwark and back averaging just over 40 to the gallon. The car has only done 108000 miles of which I have done 25000.
Hamsfar
The airbag deployed from the side of the passenger seat. Would a fault in the door have caused this? I do not think it fully deployed as it could not be seen from the drivers seat and the wife was shaken so much she did not look.
Lygonos
Fault in the heated seat sounds plausible, but it was not switched on at the time. I can not remember when it was last used. Usually it is only me in the car.
Will take it to my friendly local garage on Monday see what they think.
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YES! THat's where the side/seat airbag sensor is, in the door. Hamsfar
The airbag deployed from the side of the passenger seat. Would a fault in the door have caused this? I do not think it fully deployed as it could not be seen from the drivers seat and the wife was shaken so much she did not look. You could try contacting VOSA as it is a safety issue.
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Thank you for confirming that Hamsfar.
Contacting VOSA seems a good idea. Will send them an email.
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Did the seat belt tensioner go as well? Anyone know under what circumstances they would both (side airbag and tensioner) go off? I would have thought you would want to be restrained fully by the seat belt in a side impact as much as a frontal. Fortunately I have no experience of airbags activating - and hope to keep it that way!
I'm thinking that if both should have deployed and the tensioner didn't, that would indicate it wasn't the gubbins in the door setting it off.
Edited by Chris M on 10/01/2009 at 13:30
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I'm thinking that if both should have deployed and the tensioner didn't that would indicate it wasn't the gubbins in the door setting it off.
Good thinking - and if a pyrotechnic pre-tensioner has operated, it should arguably be replaced, even if the side airbag isn't.
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A very similar thing happened to me today.
I went out to my 2002 1.8 Vauxhall Vectra saloon this morning, put the 2 kids in (rear passenger side door), got in the driver's seat, closed the driver's door and started the engine (clutch down, neutral gear). As soon as the engine started the driver's side seat and curtain airbags deployed. Like yours, there was a burning smell afterwards caused by what looked like smoke coming out of the burst seat airbag. None of the other airbags seem to be affected and there is no sign of damage to the vehicle.
Off to the local garage on Monday..
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If the pretensioner has fired, a bright orange plastic tab with an exclamation mark on it comes out of a seam on the face of the buckle anchor nearest the handbrake (you know the seatbelt thing between the seat and centre console).
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The wife did complain of the seat belt tightening up, but that was when we left home 2 hours previously.
Have just checked the car and there is no orange tab or anything unusual about the buckle anchor. (Nice name) Curiouser and Curiouser
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