Photo Essay - Drunk Driver In Northbridge

[Phildo]

Originally Posted by deesun

Considering the small amount of damage i'm surprised the airbag went off.

Airbags are set off by seat belt sensors, not by anything in the front of the car.

When there is a strong, sudden jolt on the seat belt, the airbag is deployed.

This is why air bags are useless for people that aren't wearing a seat belt.

In this case, there would have been a very sudden stop when the car hit the bollards - there were two of them, one each side of the tree. This stop, and sudden jolt on the seat belt, would have triggered the airbag.

The driver's seat belt would have certainly prevented injury.

[Blue Dog]

Originally Posted by Phildo

Airbags are set off by seat belt sensors, not by anything in the front of the car.

When there is a strong, sudden jolt on the seat belt, the airbag is deployed.

This is why air bags are useless for people that aren't wearing a seat belt.

In this case, there would have been a very sudden stop when the car hit the bollards - there were two of them, one each side of the tree. This stop, and sudden jolt on the seat belt, would have triggered the airbag.

The driver's seat belt would have certainly prevented injury.

It's my understanding the SRS Module will activate the airbags determined by the crash sensors.
If the impact is not severe the SRS Module may only activate the seatbelt pretensioners & not the airbags.