AirBag & Offroad

Asking some info on airbags...mainly ways to disconnect it while offroad incase it goes bang while going down a slight bump ?
You could pull the main fuse but will the ecu spit its dummy out & give fault codes or cause limp home mode.
Im also informed that all air bags should be replaced/tested every 10 years
but this Hippo is 15 years old and im sure it hasnt been replaced ...

The air bag won't or shouldn't fire when off road unless you crash!! It can't go off over a bump, regardless of how big the bang. The air bags will only deploy above a preset impact at a very specific angle.
Age won't fire them, the reverse is true. They schedule a 10 year change to ensure they do go off when needed.

never heard of them being changed after 10 years. my cavalier is nearly 20 and has an airbag but from an unknown age vectra-b so it surely should have a replacement airbag by now. and is there any age markers on seatbelt pretensioners?

Id wear a crash helment next time you go off road.......you never know......

Animal88 said:

never heard of them being changed after 10 years. my cavalier is nearly 20 and has an airbag but from an unknown age vectra-b so it surely should have a replacement airbag by now. and is there any age markers on seatbelt pretensioners?

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All safety pyrotechnics (air bags and seat belts tensioners) and the control unit have a replacement schedule. Up to around 2000 they were generally 10 years. After 2000 most vehicles have a 15 year replacement. There are exceptions to the rule so it's always wise to check the owners manual.

It says in me manual to change them every 15 years. Skimmed through it today and noticed that

Can i remove it with a dummy non airbag on the steering wheel or will the ecu light like blackpool ?
At the end of the day you really dont want it to go pop while going over a bump.
Thanks for looking

highvoltage said:

Can i remove it with a dummy non airbag on the steering wheel or will the ecu light like blackpool ?
At the end of the day you really dont want it to go pop while going over a bump.
Thanks for looking

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Airbags generally deploy between 20-25mph. I investigate accidents every day and it is rare for them to go off as they have a trigger mounted at the front of the car-you have seen the staged granny crossing the road and hitting the front of the open top sports car and the airbag going off-it wouldn't in reality.

The airbag will not deploy going over a bump, but if the brick wall you try driving through at over 20mph, if that is what you call a bump, then yes it ought to deploy

When I have driven off-road, my speed rarely gets over 6-8mph, let alone 20+ mph.

I do not recall one owner saying that their airbag has deployed due to going over a 'bump', and there have been 10's of thousands of Freelanders sold.

You want the airbag on the car for when it is on the road, which for the average person is 99-100% of the time.

It would be too much hustle to change the steering wheel over, just to use it for a relatively short time off road.

I wouldn't bother. Waste of time and money.

highvoltage said:

Can i remove it with a dummy non airbag on the steering wheel or will the ecu light like blackpool ?
At the end of the day you really dont want it to go pop while going over a bump.
Thanks for looking

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I've been Freelandering on and oft road for years. Have never had a problem with air bag going oft whilst oft road. Never heard of anyone's air bag going oft whilst oft road.

Don't remove the air bag.
Don't tamper with the air bag.

Ok point taken....leave well alone....thank you for the input & advice

Somebody watch too much Top Gear Africa special , but the main reason of BMW airbag deploy was a short cut , not vibrations. Those stuff have powder, and needs a spark to deploy. This is not a nitroglycerine

Old airbags can fail in one way - not deploy when needed, that's why LR put an exchange interval every 10 yrs.

Whats sets them off? Is it just 2 wires and putting 12v on them.....or is there a few inputs to them.......are they safe to just unplug and plugin.....if needed. ..
Do they have a fail safe like mechanism

jedi said:

Whats sets them off? Is it just 2 wires and putting 12v on them.....or is there a few inputs to them.......are they safe to just unplug and plugin.....if needed. ..
Do they have a fail safe like mechanism

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2 wires that pass 12 volts to the air bag pyrotechnic. When we sent a car to the local recycle facility, we had to fire the air bags or they wouldn't take the car.

I know of two airbags to deploy when not needed.

The first was on a Peugeot 206, was my mates company car when he was a salesman at the local pug dealership. A customer came in with an airbag light on. The airbag ECU was at fault, the workshop swapped the airbag ECU with the one from my mates car cuz it was going to take 3 weeks to get the replacement. Unfortunately when he reversed out of his parking space that night the airbag went off! He did get some time off workforce that one.

The other airbag was on a big Mercedes saloon. Lady was driving down the road at approx 60mph and cut a corner where there was a right angle kerbstone. The car hit the kerb with so much force the car G sensor thought it was going to roll and deployed the curtain airbag.

I guess the second instance was nearly justified but the first was plain stupidity form a main stealer fitter. ( I won't even give him the title of mechanic cuz he don't deserve it!)

I don't know of any other airbags going off except in accidents. And even then so time people say afterwards why didn't the air bag go off? Usually the reason is because the specific perameters that the airbag ecu uses to determine if it is needed havnt been met. (A lot of cars that are rolled don't set the steering wheel airbag off)

Having said all that I am still intending to replace the standard steering wheel with a momo....

Whats a momo?

Hippo said:

Whats a momo?

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A make of steering wheel. They do a range of after market wheels too.

Sorry wasn't very clear on what I meant! You will see pictures when I get a boss sorted and fitted! But it is on the back burner for the moment