Interior/Exterior Anyone disconnected airbags?
#26
11-14-2003, 03:05 PM
Here's a quote from http://www.hwysafety.org
>Serious injuries and deaths are relatively rare; deaths attributable to airbag inflation in low speed crashes numbered about 220 according to NHTSA (as of April 2003), compared with the nearly 10,000 lives that have been saved by airbags. In addition, it's important to note that these problems aren't happening entirely at random.<
They go on to say that >90% of the deaths are children who are either not belted in or in improperly located car seats. More care on the part of adults could drastically reduce these numbers............still, a net of 9,780 lives saved isn't bad.
R.E.
>Serious injuries and deaths are relatively rare; deaths attributable to airbag inflation in low speed crashes numbered about 220 according to NHTSA (as of April 2003), compared with the nearly 10,000 lives that have been saved by airbags. In addition, it's important to note that these problems aren't happening entirely at random.<
They go on to say that >90% of the deaths are children who are either not belted in or in improperly located car seats. More care on the part of adults could drastically reduce these numbers............still, a net of 9,780 lives saved isn't bad.
R.E.
#27
11-15-2003, 10:33 AM
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All roadracers disconnect their bags to prevent the rare, but documented, accidental deployment at the track, as well as to save weight. The weight savings is both overall, as well as in the rotational mass of the steering wheel itself. Just as racing engines accelerate quicker with lightweight flywheels, drivers find the lighterweight steering wheels to be more responsive to use.
My shop has converted several race-only cars as well as a few street cars from airbag to non-airbag wheels. They have all been Porsches, but the trick was to come up with a hub and deal with some minor problems with horn or turn signal canceling. To fool the airbag we simply installed a resister (that was matched to the resistance across the terminals on the back of the bag) in place of the bag, essentially 'fooling' the system and making it sense that there was still a bag. This will eliminate any chance for faults in the central nervous system and allow you to retain the passenger bag for road use.
DesignIt, if you just want to disable the airbag, but not replace the steering wheel, all you'll need to do is disconnect the battery, remove the airbag, unplug it, install a resistor that matches the airbag's resistance and carefully reassemble. Need help.
Call me.
PerfPow (Sol)
http://www.perfectpowerinc.com
My shop has converted several race-only cars as well as a few street cars from airbag to non-airbag wheels. They have all been Porsches, but the trick was to come up with a hub and deal with some minor problems with horn or turn signal canceling. To fool the airbag we simply installed a resister (that was matched to the resistance across the terminals on the back of the bag) in place of the bag, essentially 'fooling' the system and making it sense that there was still a bag. This will eliminate any chance for faults in the central nervous system and allow you to retain the passenger bag for road use.
DesignIt, if you just want to disable the airbag, but not replace the steering wheel, all you'll need to do is disconnect the battery, remove the airbag, unplug it, install a resistor that matches the airbag's resistance and carefully reassemble. Need help.
Call me.
PerfPow (Sol)
http://www.perfectpowerinc.com
#28
11-15-2003, 02:33 PM
First, I totally respect Designit's choice to disconnect the airbags.
Its a choice that you can be as informed or uniformed about as you want, and you can do it. Social policy usually doesn't provide 100% safety to every member, its for the good of the whole. Gotta do a certain amount of that to live to live in the world we are populating so densely...and the only calculated risks Designit is undertaking are to him (or her) self,and his passengers. Its not like driving intoxicated!
But personally I WANT my air bags on, and I was hoping this thread would enlighten me about how they get turned off in the first place, since I took my car in for a small service (replace the leaking coolant reservoir) and upon leaving I noted that the airbag light is now on. I asked the dealer if there was something they may have accidentally detached or something, (I wanted a quick fix) but they said it was inconcievable that it was all related to their service job, and that I need to drop it off for at least 4 hours for them to evaluate--a mere "coincidence".
I may be wrong, but I'm ticked off...its inconvenient, and I just don't buy the "coinicidence"...was hoping I'd run across something I could check here to get the bags turned back on...no wiring under the drivers seat or anything that gets unplugged?
Its a choice that you can be as informed or uniformed about as you want, and you can do it. Social policy usually doesn't provide 100% safety to every member, its for the good of the whole. Gotta do a certain amount of that to live to live in the world we are populating so densely...and the only calculated risks Designit is undertaking are to him (or her) self,and his passengers. Its not like driving intoxicated!
But personally I WANT my air bags on, and I was hoping this thread would enlighten me about how they get turned off in the first place, since I took my car in for a small service (replace the leaking coolant reservoir) and upon leaving I noted that the airbag light is now on. I asked the dealer if there was something they may have accidentally detached or something, (I wanted a quick fix) but they said it was inconcievable that it was all related to their service job, and that I need to drop it off for at least 4 hours for them to evaluate--a mere "coincidence".
I may be wrong, but I'm ticked off...its inconvenient, and I just don't buy the "coinicidence"...was hoping I'd run across something I could check here to get the bags turned back on...no wiring under the drivers seat or anything that gets unplugged?
#29
11-15-2003, 02:51 PM
re: the above, I don't mean I thought they did it intentionally, but I just meant I thought they did something inadvertantly and ouahla! now I have to make an appt, make arrangements to leave it, etc....
So can anybody answer designit's question?
How do you disconnect the airbags? (and how come there isn't a smiley that just says ???huh??? since there's usually a fair amount of that goin' around
So can anybody answer designit's question?
How do you disconnect the airbags? (and how come there isn't a smiley that just says ???huh??? since there's usually a fair amount of that goin' around
#30
11-15-2004, 02:39 PM
More food for thought
Car safety in damage per accident is misleading. It is true that a small car looses the kinetic energy war with larger vehicles. But there is an accident cross section to think about as well (sorry, I'm a nerd and nerdspeak comes out everynow and then). The cross section is basically that chance per mile that a given car is in an accident. To look at the safety of a given car, look at injury accidents per 100k miles. Then the big Suburbans don't look so good. The lack of handling, responsiveness etc really degrade the advantage of size.
To make matters worse for those that like the Suburbans for safety, they tend to hurt a lot more people in other cars (you can look at the number of injuries by which car in the accident) so the percieved safety (that I maintian isn't real) of bigger cars is "paid for" with increased risk to others. More mass is more enegy to dissipate, no matter what!
Turns out that the "safest" of cars are like the Avalon on Camry, but this doesn't normalize out the average driving style of the average buyer of that type of car (Mini drivers and Avalon drivers tend to want different things out of their cars).
Why all this bable? To point out that the statistics being quoted aren't very meaningful in the context stated. Anyone who thinks that lives aren't saved by Airbags ought to have thier head examined. But those who think that this advance is without price are just as clueless.
It's kind of like the new body armour that's being used in Iraq (it the soldiers can get it). There's less death, but a lot more dismemberments. It isn't pretty, but it's doneunder the assumption that someone with only one arm is better off than a dead person. Now this is wierd calculus to be sure.
If you want to remove the airbag mechanism, go for it. You are trading risks, and probably to a slightly "riskier" world, but that's what's great, we all get to make our own compramises.
For the airbag sensors, search on some threads. If you put a resistor into one of the connectors (ohms and which connector are listed in some threads), then the Mini doesn't know anything is wrong with the system, and no dash lights! This is what people do to put just one racing seat in, or to run without passenger seats. If you don't have the system fooled, the light will come on, and even if you put the seats back, it will stay on until reset by Mini.
Good luck,
Matt
To make matters worse for those that like the Suburbans for safety, they tend to hurt a lot more people in other cars (you can look at the number of injuries by which car in the accident) so the percieved safety (that I maintian isn't real) of bigger cars is "paid for" with increased risk to others. More mass is more enegy to dissipate, no matter what!
Turns out that the "safest" of cars are like the Avalon on Camry, but this doesn't normalize out the average driving style of the average buyer of that type of car (Mini drivers and Avalon drivers tend to want different things out of their cars).
Why all this bable? To point out that the statistics being quoted aren't very meaningful in the context stated. Anyone who thinks that lives aren't saved by Airbags ought to have thier head examined. But those who think that this advance is without price are just as clueless.
It's kind of like the new body armour that's being used in Iraq (it the soldiers can get it). There's less death, but a lot more dismemberments. It isn't pretty, but it's doneunder the assumption that someone with only one arm is better off than a dead person. Now this is wierd calculus to be sure.
If you want to remove the airbag mechanism, go for it. You are trading risks, and probably to a slightly "riskier" world, but that's what's great, we all get to make our own compramises.
For the airbag sensors, search on some threads. If you put a resistor into one of the connectors (ohms and which connector are listed in some threads), then the Mini doesn't know anything is wrong with the system, and no dash lights! This is what people do to put just one racing seat in, or to run without passenger seats. If you don't have the system fooled, the light will come on, and even if you put the seats back, it will stay on until reset by Mini.
Good luck,
Matt
#31
12-11-2007, 07:22 AM
I agree with DesignIt.
So many times we are forced by the government for some new safety feature, which on paper appears to look good, but in truth has little to no affect on safety. Most of these are created based on a very slim vocal minority. For example, one person somewhere hit his steering wheel and died, 20/20 did a special, it was all in the newspapers the next days, Senators came out and spoke against it, it became law. And now we are doing something because how dare a single person die if it could have been avoided. The thinking that if you don't have airbags you are just putting yourself at risk and you might as well write your own death certificate, is the same thinking that the Hummer people have for the people who purchase Mini's. I don't know how many people have told me that I am driving in a death trap. The fact that you drive in a small car does not mean you are less safe, anymore than an airbag makes you more safe. In fact, there are more examples of people being killed by airbags than being saved. I thought I saw somewhere that there has never been a proven case of a life being saved by an airbag. I would rather have the money spent in passive safety features built into the structure of the automobile than a kevlar bag being shot at my face near the speed of sound, suffering possible burn marks and loss of hearing.
Anyway, enough said. If it is legal and DesignIt wants to do it. He should be allowed to do it.
So many times we are forced by the government for some new safety feature, which on paper appears to look good, but in truth has little to no affect on safety. Most of these are created based on a very slim vocal minority. For example, one person somewhere hit his steering wheel and died, 20/20 did a special, it was all in the newspapers the next days, Senators came out and spoke against it, it became law. And now we are doing something because how dare a single person die if it could have been avoided. The thinking that if you don't have airbags you are just putting yourself at risk and you might as well write your own death certificate, is the same thinking that the Hummer people have for the people who purchase Mini's. I don't know how many people have told me that I am driving in a death trap. The fact that you drive in a small car does not mean you are less safe, anymore than an airbag makes you more safe. In fact, there are more examples of people being killed by airbags than being saved. I thought I saw somewhere that there has never been a proven case of a life being saved by an airbag. I would rather have the money spent in passive safety features built into the structure of the automobile than a kevlar bag being shot at my face near the speed of sound, suffering possible burn marks and loss of hearing.
Anyway, enough said. If it is legal and DesignIt wants to do it. He should be allowed to do it.
#33
12-11-2007, 11:16 AM
Well...I took my airbags out to save weight but to mostly deactivate the system because of my 6-point cage. I dont need the bags deploying at a different angle than what they were intended due to hitting the cage. That in itself could cause serious injury or death to me. For the past 30 or so post you guys bash the original poster about laws and safety but why dont you just answer his damn question? Brings back the issues or running with no cats..
. If you have any answers...list them...dont pass judgement.
Anyways, I need to remove my passenger bag and my steering wheel to swap out for a sparco unit. All I know is you disconnect the plug in the steering wheel. Thats it. The "bulb" in the dash is actually a LED as far as I know. I need to know the specific ohms ratings for each airbag since I dont know if Im going to put resistors in or have Mini deactivate the system through the ECU. Here in AZ we arent required to run airbags even in newer cars...BUT if you have ANY dash lights on regardless....they will fail you....
. If you have any answers...list them...dont pass judgement. Anyways, I need to remove my passenger bag and my steering wheel to swap out for a sparco unit. All I know is you disconnect the plug in the steering wheel. Thats it. The "bulb" in the dash is actually a LED as far as I know. I need to know the specific ohms ratings for each airbag since I dont know if Im going to put resistors in or have Mini deactivate the system through the ECU. Here in AZ we arent required to run airbags even in newer cars...BUT if you have ANY dash lights on regardless....they will fail you....
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