This is probably a repost, however...

DiggityBiggity · Post by **DiggityBiggity** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:36 am

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1583480458

Is this possible? Or is this totally fuckin fake?

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:36 am

I don't think that could happen unless she had a lead brick in her purse and only *looked* like a little old lady.

A friend of mine's wife was driving their Civic home from work one day and hit a trailer hitch draw bar in the middle of the road. It set off the airbag, but did zero damage to the rest of the car. It takes a good whack to set off airbags. I'm not even sure it can be done the way they were doing it in "Fight Club".

Xanth · Post by **Xanth** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:56 am

Not sure how that could be real...

I don't know much about airbags, but the ones I've seen have two separate sensors mounted behind the front bumper. I thought both sensors have to be triggered to set the airbags off, a purse wouldn't be able to pull that off.

Kohburn · Post by **Kohburn** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:59 am

perhaps a faulty sensor?

CincinnatiFiero · Post by **CincinnatiFiero** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:11 pm

Its fake i've seen it before, also, when you have on sunglasses and get hit with an airbag, you won't take them off and rub your face, you'd be half dead. Also, even in the high speed camera slow mo vids of car crashes the airbag manages to move faster than it does in that vid.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:04 pm

I saw this vid awhile ago too, and I'm pretty sure it's fake as well. In my experience it takes more than that to set off an airbag. :thumbleft:

whipped · Post by **whipped** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:46 pm

CincinnatiFiero wrote:Its fake i've seen it before, also, when you have on sunglasses and get hit with an airbag, you won't take them off and rub your face, you'd be half dead.

yeah, from the sunglasses sticking out of your brain.

I know airbags can be set off by stupid things like speed bumps. It would not surprise me if this happened in real life, but the airbag inflation looks fake.

Unsafe At Any Speed · Post by **Unsafe At Any Speed** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:17 pm

How are airbags deployed exactly? I would assume the systems have gotten more sophisticated over the years?

Indy · Post by **Indy** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:44 pm

The inflation is what gives it away...Would have been instant.

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:47 pm

There are shock/acceleration sensors in the front end of the car that detect a frontal collision. The airbag controller then triggers and *explosive charge* that provides high pressure hot gas which inflates the airbag.

S8n · Post by **S8n** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:13 pm

The Dark Side of Will wrote:There are shock/acceleration sensors in the front end of the car that detect a frontal collision. The airbag controller then triggers and *explosive charge* that provides high pressure hot gas which inflates the airbag.

Most cars require two sensors to register a crash before an airbag will go off. All airbags these days are cold inflation airbags, not like the gunpowder that they used to use in them. That stuff would burn your face and make you def.

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:51 pm

Is it chemical or just pressure (IE, 3,000 psi can of N2)?

Dirty Sanchez · Post by **Dirty Sanchez** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:05 pm

It's fake. Airbags will only go off if the vehicle is moving over 25 MPH, read the owner's manual in your airbag equipped vehicle and you will see that information in there. The guy also barely moved when that bag went off, I also didn't see any propellant smoke.

derangedsheep · Post by **derangedsheep** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:08 am

The Dark Side of Will wrote:Is it chemical or just pressure (IE, 3,000 psi can of N2)?

NaN3 and KNO3 mix and release a ton of Nitrogen which is what inflates the bag.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:56 pm

Dirty Sanchez wrote:It's fake. Airbags will only go off if the vehicle is moving over 25 MPH

What if your car is stationary and a vehicle hits your front end? I've seen this exact case, a guy sitting at a redlight, an oncoming car hit him at around 45mph, and his airbag deployed. I don't think your vehicles speed has anything to do with it.

The Dark Side of Will · Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:50 pm

Deployment criteria probably vary by MFG within framework dictated by NHTSA...
The severity of the impact necessary for deployment may be equivalent to a 25 mph head-on, for instance.

p8ntman442 · Post by **p8ntman442** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:22 pm

inertia. If you get hit by a car doing 45, your ass is doing 25 real quick. Probably not a speedo driven input, but a gyroscope input.

The Dark Side of Will · Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:54 pm

IE, the acceleration equivalent to hitting something at 25 mph.

Blue Shift · Post by **Blue Shift** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:09 am

Yeah sodium azide isn't far from lead azide, the friction/shock sensitive high order explosive used to make percussion caps, primers, and probably blasting caps too. Very nasty, that stuff. Gotta love nitrogen compounds...

I read somewhere that t3h sodium azide also has other chemicals (potassium nitrate? Like what derrangedsheep said?) to prevent bits of sodium metal from possibly escaping intact from the bag.. and sticking to your face, possibly while on fire.