While driving home today, I passed several cars driven by people holding the steering wheel at the five-to-one position, or even with their hands together at the top of the wheel. This leaves the lower arm positioned directly in front of the airbag.
This got me thinking (something of a rarity nowadays) - if said driver was involved in a crash and the airbag deployed, what would happen? Two broken arms? Has any research ever been done into this?
Andy
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Good point although I suppose instinct would be to bring your arms back - plus, woudl the bag have enough force to damage anything? On another similar note, what happens when the cover of the steering wheel inevitably pops off during the deployment of the bag. It has to go somewhere...your face? That must have a fair bit of force in it as well.
Adam
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I was driving my friend's Yaris a few weeks ago casually resting my arm on the windowsill (not best practice I know) and he warned me not to as if the side-airbag went off it would have snapped my arm into my face. Not something I'd even considered.
I think steering-wheel covers are designed to rip rather than fly off under airbag deployment. Though either way, it's probably better than not having an airbag. I think the airbag itself can cause some nasty injuries, but your neck will perhaps remain unbroken.
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Ripping would make more sense. Here's another one,
I got told that something used to inflate the airbag like sodium hydroxide or something similar was highly poisonous which is why only dealers shoudl change the aibags.
This is obviously wrong otherwise there'd be a speight of deaths from airbags and I've never heard it before. Besides, I thought a C02 propellant inflated the airbags.
Cheers
Adam
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I got told that something used to inflate the airbag like sodium hydroxide ....
Actually it's Sodium azide (NaN3) and potassium nitrate (KNO3) which react very quickly to produce a large pulse of hot nitrogen gas.
auto.howstuffworks.com/question130.htm
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"something used to inflate the airbag like sodium hydroxide" - Caustic soda? the mind boggles. Pickled in alkali just because I hit a lamp-post ..
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- plus, woudl the bag have enough force to damage anything?
there are warnings in most car handbooks against sitting too close to the steering wheel - if you are too close to the airbag, it has sufficient force to break your neck.
for the same reason, you will be warned against using child safety seats in the front of a car with passenger airbags
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An airbag contains holes - its sole purpose if and when required to operate is to protect your body from being injured by the steering wheel or other areas of the car over a short period of time.
For that reason an airbag fully inflates in a fraction of a second and them begins to deflate, its work done. If it didn't begin to deflate then you could be seriously injured....
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Attended many car accidents where airbags have deployed, even an unbelted driver, and the only injuries I could attribute to the airbags were friction burns to the arms. The unbelted driver didn't even get a b***** nose (or a broken neck) and was more concerned with opening the bonnet of his car than the carnage he just caused. Of course this is not suggesting that the same would apply for anyone else.
The airbag covers were all ripped, but still attached to the steering wheel.
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If I see anyone driving with their hands near or at the top of the wheel I keep well clear of them. With the hands in that position the arms have to be moved side to side to turn the wheel ~ hardly the best movement for maintaining control.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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If you look at your steering wheel centre you'll very often see the faint outline (usually a shadow) of a pre-set "split" line where the airbag will deploy so no flying bits of wheel
SIMON
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When I was doing my IAM training one of the first things I was told was to not wrap my thumbs around the wheel, but to rest them along it. The reason being that in an accident they could get broken if they were wrapped around the wheel.
A friend who flew helicopters in the RAF told me of a search and rescue mission he went on in Germany to recover a crashed helicopter. When they found the pilot, unfortunately dead, his lower arm was missing. It was found with his fist still clenched to the control column. When the blades hit the ground the control column is moved with such force that it tore the arm at the elbow.
Piles are apparantly also an occupational hazard too!
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Talking of steering techniques, one thing I've noticed in recent times, is the number of people who use the heel of their hand to turn the wheel, especially when doing a low-speed manoeuvre. Is this a technique that's being taught these days, as most of the drivers I've spotted doing this seem to be under 30?
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Not being taught, just makes you look really cool ;)
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Or like a fork-lift driver :-)
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pdc - thats a slanderous lie!
Now where did I put that Preparation H....
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