Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in

Air Bag Explosion 7

Status
Not open for further replies.
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Sort by date Sort by votes
It's no different in concept than a solid rocket motor, commonly used to propel humans and hazardous cargos into space. The airbag inflator has 3 safety requirements. It can be filled without voids, resists corrosion so it doesn't deteriorate over time, and the propellant is protected from environmental exposure. These are relatively simple issues to overcome, with a little engineering.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Anything to do with air bag inflators, is a prime example of engineering failure in the extreme.
It boggles the mind that anyone would design a pressure vessel, that is made out of thin almost tin can like material, that is installed inches away from someones face.
Click to expand...

This hyperbole belies the fact that there have been an estimated 2 million airbag deployments in the past ten years in the US, with only 14 fatalities, which is a very low failure rate and also makes a mockery of the amount of engineering that has gone into creating something that can deploy in milliseconds to protect the goofballs that still refuse to wear their seatbelts. Conversely, where is the alternate, safer, option for the stringent requirements for this application? It's easy to just denigrate engineers without providing even a hint of a better, safer solution.

And on top of that have no over pressure safety valve or device, to bleed off any excessive pressure.
Click to expand...

Yet more hyperbole, since airbags do actually a pressure bleed function; otherwise, deployed airbags would stay inflated or they would all explode.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
IRstuff said:
hyperbole
Click to expand...

I am taking that you don't understand how the problem with the inflators happens?
If all those things were prefect this thread would not exist. So now that it has been an issue for so long
its time to start building those things the right way. There needs to be a valve that pops off the back of them to exhaust the pressure
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM. Also most importantly the case needs to be able to handle the pressure without fragmenting.
This is all just simple logical stuff.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Airbags are not there to 100% save you from injury. They are there to prevent further injury. Before they existed there were far more serious injuries/deaths in auto crashes.
I would not want a car without them. They work very well.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The USA bags are completely different requirements spec to the rest of the world.

The issue is shrapnel coming out not the rest of the can failing.. 29 fatality a year due air bags working or not working.

You would have more effect banning asprin


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
@Alistair,

I guess that if the airbag fails to deploy and the crash then ends with a fatality the alternative (no airbag) would have ended the same way?

So when considering the benefit of an airbag you should only consider yourself with the cases where it activates w.o. an intended cause and then cause injuries and the cases where it deploys as intended but results in more severe injuries than if it had not there at all?

This is much like vaccine scare. In Denmark there were a lot of commotion about the HPV vaccine (to reduce risk of cervical cancer). Some young women reported various symptoms after having received the vaccine. Investigation showed that there is a very low likelihood of these symptoms being related to the vaccine. Yet, some parents could not bring it upon themselves to get their children vaccinated. But in 20-30 years we will then see women with cervical cancer where this might have been avoided. I wonder if these women will then thank their parents? Same with airbags. While we all deserve to have these as safe as possible im certain that the positive effect outweighs the risk many time. This might not, however, be a consolation for those who get injured by an airbag malfunction.

--- Best regards, Morten Andersen
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
the HPV generation in the UK is like a brick wall across the statistics. So much so they have started giving it to males as well so they can't spread it.

Most deaths with airbags in europe that are not attributed to a RTA are due to workshop accidents triggering them when people are working on their cars.

If they do fire when the driver is in and belted they won't kill them. They will kill though baby carriers in the front facing backwards.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
They save vastly more than they kill even including accidents while in the workshop.

My previous searching revealed that the USA ones are completely different beasts to the rest of the world. Faster inflation. A lot more gas and the bags have to be able to take a lot more pressure due to this requirement that they can stand alone to work without the occupant being seat belted.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MortonA said:
I guess that if the airbag fails to deploy and the crash then ends with a fatality the alternative (no airbag) would have ended the same way?
Click to expand...

They don't give a break down like that.

The way I am reading it there have been less than 10 cases in the USA where the gas emitting point of the can has ejected high velocity shrapnel metal which has then gone through the bag into the person in front of it. There is no details if the consequence of the high velocity of metal mass was the primary cause of the fatality or was just another note on the autopsy.

If they really wanted to fix it then they should mandate seat belts and remove this nonsense about it being required to be a stand alone system. There can't be that many states left which don't have a seat belt wearing law.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
At this point it's no longer just about saving lives, but also preventing cranial injuries and TBIs due to the fact that collisions aren't always front/rear impacts. Seat belts don't protect well against side or skew impacts. There was a big todo when IIHS started their skew impact tests and a bunch of cars failed, but in a short time, the manufacturers fell into line and redesigned the cars to survive those impacts as well.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
enginesrus,
You a mech or elect engineer?
How would you redesign it? You think after all these year of the airbag system being proven, you can make it better?

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This latest car of mine which has a very low safety score due to not having all the passive braking gizmos.

It has 5 air bags fitted to it and the higher end cars now have 8 I read.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Most of those extra airbags are specifically in response to IIHS testing, that showed impacts against roof posts, etc. Manufacturers are loathe to do anything extra that eats into profit, so one can be fairly certain that IIHS testing drove them to add the bags.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Murph 9000
  • Locked
  • Question
Natural gas explosion at the Realty Tower Building
2
Replies
20
Views
21
Murph 9000
Murph 9000
drwebb
  • Locked
  • Question
Pennsylvania Chocolate Factory Explosion Cause 1
Replies
1
Views
2
hacksaw
hacksaw
hokie66
  • Locked
  • Question
Dairy explosion 1
2 3 4
Replies
63
Views
64
TugboatEng
TugboatEng
dik
  • Locked
  • Question
Explosion in Pennesylvania 2
Replies
14
Views
15
drwebb
drwebb
MJCronin
  • Locked
  • Question
Fatal explosion and fire at blending plant in Australia - October 12, 2023
Replies
0
Views
8
MJCronin
MJCronin
Back
Top