Jack Orr

I had an interesting conversation while sitting in the front seat of my 2.7T with the #2 (USA) Audi mechanic, who I have previously mentioned. The conversation got around to the costs of fixing the car after an airbag eruption. In the case of the steering wheel- an entire replacement is called for - at least $1500- $1800. The right dashboard has to almost totally be replaced. Over $1200. If the seat airbags go boom, the cost worsens, and there have to be completely new seatbelt assemblies when the pretensioners go off. In the worst case- the cost could easily top $6-7000. You might say- "Well, that's what insurance is for" and I would remind you that the consumer sooner or later reimburses insurance companies. Rates are based on losses.

Are airbags worth it? If they save lives, I doubt it will be mine, since I always use seat belts, and they are the #1 life saver. Also bear in mind that we pay a lot for these contraptions when we buy a car and load it up with all these explosives.

Whatcha think?

Frank C@work

I think that airbags when used with seatbelts provide added protection. Without getting gory, think of how much you're willing to pay extra per year for your insurance for avoiding something like broken teeth, a concussion or worse. Worth an extra $200?! $300? You tell me.

Richard Solomon

> Are airbags worth it? If they save lives, I doubt it will be mine, since I always use seat
> belts, and they are the #1 life saver. Also bear in mind that we pay a lot for these
> contraptions when we buy a car and load it up with all these explosives.

I *doubt* it will be mine either, but I'm willing to pay a couple of thousand dollars upfront and risk paying another $10K later on the off chance it is. Heck, if St. Peter offered you another year of life for $12K, wouldn't you think that a good deal???? I expect that I've got a few more decades to go, so it all seems cheap to me!<p>Richard
'00 A6 2.7TM

Richard Solomon

This talk of pretensioners reminded me... My wife's father was recently riding in my car, and I noticed his habit of holding the seatbelt slack with his hand. At the time I thought "Pretensioner + holding seatbelt ?= BAD_IDEA" but didn't say anything....anyone have data to support telling passengers not to do this?<p>Richard
'00 A6 2.7TM

Steve in VA

I always use seatbelts too, but bear in mind that they won't do much good when some doofus t-bones you in a side collision. There was a good article in the Wall St Journal a few weeks ago about how the side bags are becoming more common. It told the story of an A6 with side air bags that lost it on ice at high speed and was completely demolished. Much to the amazement of the EMTs, the driver was unhurt, except for a few bruises, because of the protection provided by the side bags.

Jack Orr

Sure, I don't question the value of airbags in certain cases. But the injuries you mention are often caused by the airbags themselves. So, who's to know? In 1952, there were three of us in the front seat of a 1952 DeSoto that all
survived ,with very minor injuries, drunks hitting us about 15-20 degrees off dead head on. Acc. to witness, they were motoring at least 70mph, and we were doing about 40-45. Go figure. The drunks were hurt worse than we were, but survived. A few years ago, my son was hit by a sober red light runner doing 70mph, according to many witnesses. She hit directly on the drivers door, and then glanced into a lamp post and two other cars. One of which was a Ferrari. The News helicopter circling above stated that the accident was not suvivable. My son had some significant head injury and had to endure cranial surgery on his forehead and eye socket. But, he's OK today. All cars that were hit were past being total. Go figure again. Never generalize!

Stu B

I am sorry about your son, but glad to hear he is OK. Do you mind if I ask what type of car/truck he was driving? I am just wondering what type of airbags, if any, where involved in his car?

MA6

Airbags are mainly designed to be used with seatbelts. From what I've read, the whole issue with airbags killing people because they inflate too quickly is basically because the DOT or someone required them to provide protection to people *not* wearing seatbelts. In order to do that, they have to inflate faster to get there sooner in the accident.

That being said, therefore, you *ought* to be wearing your seatbelt when you have airbags, especially as they make the slower inflating airbags on cars.

Yes, you can sustain injuries from an airbag (you have, what, a big pillow coming at you at 120 mph? That will hurt) but most of them are fairly minor (I've known people who've gotten friction burns from them) compared to the potential alternative.

Besides, if they save your life once, weren't they worth it?

mdecorte

I was in a Nissan NX 2000 (really a sentra) and was hit head on by a Jetta. I was going 5-10mph, they were going 30+. Both cars were totaled. I was wearing my seatbelt and my airbag went off. To give you an idea of the force of the impact:

- I blacked out, long enough for someone in a house to come out and knock on my window.
- the lenses of my eye glasses popped out.
- a metal cross pen snapped in half and the bottom broke through my shirt pocket onto the floor.
- my right shoulder ended up in a sling for muscel damage because it wasn't held by a seat belt and my left shoulder was held in place (think of the torque that was applied)

I am 100% convinced that without the airbag I would have hit either the windshield or at least the steering wheel.

If you have seen movies of crash test dummies in accidents with only seat belts on you saw that the seat belt gives enough so that your head cat hit the steering wheel or even the windshield.

So is $7000 of airbags worth not seeing the plastic surgeon? Its an easy one for me.

DaveSilver4.2

I'm certainly willing to pay a few thousand dollars to save my life or the life of someone in my car. Seatbelts are a must, but they offer virtually no protection in a side impact. Also, I'd much rather my face bury into a forgiving pillow than the steering wheel rim, windshield frame or glass.