Re: At what speed do airbags go off in an accident?

"^Tems^" <brookersteve913@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:4828e87b$0$22174$5a62ac22@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>I went to have a look at a Mondeo for parts that had rear ended a bus.
> The guy said his niece had hit the bus at around 60 k's. Strange thing
was 
> the airbags hadn't gone off. Do they have a set speed they go off or
could 
> it have been disconnected?

Airbags generally aren't configured to go off at a set speed but rather a 
set impact force as there are cir***stances where an impact might occur 
where the deployment of the airbags would do more harm than good.

> This is the damage to the vehicle
>
> http://i8.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ef/9b/eacf_1.JPG
> http://i20.ebayimg.com/08/i/000/ef/9d/0571_1.JPG

I can't tell you what that vehicle hit, but I certainly can tell you that
it 
wasn't hard, and it wasn't anywhere near 60km/h.

The damage to the vehicle is very superficial, with the chassis rails 
looking to be completely intact. If it hit something solid  at 60km/h I 
would expect to see not only the airbags deployed, but the engine pushed 
back into the cabin and the front rails and suspension completely
destroyed 
as they're not an overly strong car.

If it *did* hit a bus, I would think it was in the soft side cargo door
area 
and at considerably less than 60km/h.

--
Regards,
Noddy.