Thread: Airbags, bull bars and kangaroos

Originally Posted by DiscoClax

Wow. That should not have happened. Seriously. Something is not right there. The amount of deformation on that bullbar is negligible. Looks like it had just rotated about the collapsible mounts a bit and not translated rearward at all really. The first ~2" of bumper/bar compression manages the crash pulse through the critical phase. If you get through that you are pretty much into a "must fire" event as you are starting to load up your chassis rails and get some significant deceleration happening. Then it comes down to timing of the deployment so the airbags catch you and don't smack you in the face or deflate before you get there. But in the first two inches you generally shouldn't see a deployment, even into a rigid wall... If the driver and passenger in that vehicle didn't have some mild facial abrasions from contacting the bags, it shouldn't have fired (ie. they didn't actually do anything).

Maybe they had a defect? The thread was back in 13 on a d3 it would have been fairly new I don't know anything about them maybe someone will clarify.
I know the D1 had an airbag defect I have stickers and wire splices all though my air bag wiring. You would think that they wouldn't go off. Hmm...

Originally Posted by bee utey

Not sure about the D1 but the soft dash RRC's have the SRS sensors bolted to the sides of the battery trays, left and right. I suspect the D1 ones would be the same. One roo would decelerate a sensor quite adequately without a roo bar fitted if it hit the vehicle in the right place.

Withought looking under the hood I swear they are at the end of the crush cans. They are big yellow switches from memory. I don't recall seeing anything near the battery but I've never looked for the sensors so you could be spot on the money. I guess all it takes is the right hit, I've had roos heads straight through my headlight on the VS Commodore and straight through the radiator on my old rodeo. If a roo went through the grille on the d1 it surely could set them off.

From RAVE (Discovery 1)
......
OPERATION
The airbag supplementary restraint system (SRS) is a
safety device which, when used in conjunction with
the seat belt, is designed to protect the driver and
front passenger.
Two different SRS systems are fitted to Discovery.
The Distributed SRS which has two crash sensors
located in the engine compartment on the chassis
longitudinals and the Single Point Sensing (SPS) SRS
which has a single crash sensor located in the Airbag
diagnostic control unit.
The change from distributed SRS to SPS SRS
occurred at VINs 198222 and 528977.

Distributed SRS
In the event of a frontal impact, when the airbag
diagnostic control unit and one of the airbag crash
sensors senses the impact, the diagnostic control unit
fires igniters. This in turn ignites tablets of sodium
azide which generate a large amount of Nitrogen gas
leading to airbag inflation in approximately 30
milli-seconds.

SPS SRS
In the event of a frontal impact, when the airbag
diagnostic control unit senses the impact, the
diagnostic control unit fires igniters. This in turn ignites
tablets of sodium azide which generate a large
amount of Nitrogen gas leading to airbag inflation in
approximately 30 milli-seconds.

All Models
When fully deployed the airbag offers additional
protection to the front seat occupant. As an occupant
moves into the airbag it immediately discharges the
gas to provide progressive occupant deceleration and
reduce risk of injuries. The whole process is
completed in approximately 0.3 seconds.

WARNING: All the airbag system
components, including the wiring harness,
MUST be renewed after the airbags have
deployed.

Originally Posted by LRJim

Maybe they had a defect? The thread was back in 13 on a d3 it would have been fairly new I don't know anything about them maybe someone will clarify.
I know the D1 had an airbag defect I have stickers and wire splices all though my air bag wiring. You would think that they wouldn't go off. Hmm...

I would guess the OP's vehicle is a D4?(in the link in my previous post)
There is also a D3 further in the thread that the same thing has happened to.

I doubt both vehicles had the same fault,but i suppose anything is possible.

Originally Posted by scarry

I would guess the OP's vehicle is a D4?
There is also a D3 further in the thread that the same thing has happened to.

I doubt both vehicles had the same fault,but i suppose anything is possible.

Thanks for that I didn't really pay attention to the car, you would think that the more modern srs systems would detect the difference between an impact and a sudden stop. I'm still leaning on the side of getting rid of them. I honestly have never trusted airbags in such an old car for several reasons plus they are 20yrs old.
A very reputable LR mechanic even told me to unplug them because of their age and because something is wrong but the srs light hasn't come back yet.
What's the difference between airbag and non airbag models, other than the airbags themselves?

I just weld more and more steel to my car. And turned off the airbags. Thinking of adding the passenger handle to make that look like a non SRS thing.
I recon my car will win the fight against an animal, but who knows. A truck well im ****ed. Its a steel coffin for me if thats the case.

I do feel safe in my steel clad car though. Love pulling up in car parks.. Go ahead and try smack my doors! Will have to get through 3mm thick tubing first

Each to there own but im a big fan of STEEL. Not that aluminium **** either! Dont try reverse into my car either! Its also 3mm thick tubing Ohhhh yea i love car parks. Jump in my car and my alarm tells me if anyone hit it. It happens as i live in ****tsville but damn i am yet to find a dint from a door.

Off topic i know but im drunk and been welding toxic stuff all day so give me a little break.

Originally Posted by DAMINK

I just weld more and more steel to my car. And turned off the airbags. Thinking of adding the passenger handle to make that look like a non SRS thing.
I recon my car will win the fight against an animal, but who knows. A truck well im ****ed. Its a steel coffin for me if thats the case.

I do feel safe in my steel clad car though. Love pulling up in car parks.. Go ahead and try smack my doors! Will have to get through 3mm thick tubing first

Each to there own but im a big fan of STEEL. Not that aluminium **** either! Dont try reverse into my car either! Its also 3mm thick tubing Ohhhh yea i love car parks. Jump in my car and my alarm tells me if anyone hit it. It happens as i live in ****tsville but damn i am yet to find a dint from a door.

Off topic i know but im drunk and been welding toxic stuff all day so give me a little break.

Bahahah don't worry I've got the same attitude when I'm sober!!

Anyway this is the best I've found so far, not much on airbags in Vic roads website. They mention vehicles manufactuard after 1995 which are REQUIRED to comply blah blah. Obviously the D1 wasn't required too comply having plenty of non airbag versions so I don't really see the problem. Depends how insurance will look at that.