Ok, here's a question: When an airbag goes off in your car, where does it come out? I'm guessing it breaks through the plastic on the steering wheel, but what prevents you from losing an eye due to flying plastic fragments?

Yes it comes out of the wheel for the driver and the dash for the passenger. The plastic on the steering wheel just peels away like a Banana peel and lets the airbag out. That way you don't get plastic in the face..

Yeah, that cover isn't plastic, it's more like rubber, and like CA said, it opens allong the lines you see and basically folds back.

I saw one go off yesterday live! We had ice on this bridge and the chick in front of me lost it and hit the wall at about 30mph. I thought her car was on fire there was so much smoke from the are bag. It bloodied her nose too :eek:

Hey, I'll take a bloody nose from an airbag over a busted skull from the steering wheel any day.

i have a friend who is a fireman and he tells me that the speed at which those things expand is enough give you a knockout punch(if you have your hand over the airbag section)

Ok, that all makes sense. Thanks everyone.

They can also completely shatter your arm or face. That is the reason that kids aren't supposed to be anywhere near them. I've heard story after story from EMTS about little kids with completely shattered faces. YEEUCK!

Um yes. I've seen people get more damage from the airbag than if they had been unbelted with No airbag...

But, I've also seen it save a few lives also.

We recently had one of our medic units go into the woods when someone turned in front of them. They went through a telephone pole and jumped a ditch and landed in the woods. Both airbags deployed, and both had their seatblets on.
Niether of them have a scratch.

I always wondered that too.... I've had an airbag hit me allready... doesn't feel to good.... neither did the grooves that that the seatbelt left in me.

-Æ (But they are a lifesaver)

I was in an accident where our car slid on pine needles that were not cleaned up, and we hit a pole the size of a telephone pole, but square. Neither of the airbags deployed, and by the time my seat belt locked, I had already whacked my head on the windsheild. We are lucky that we weren't moving faster, because that windsheild could have turned into a guillotine.

On a side note, my sisters future mother in law was in an accident with her mother, grandmother, and family dog. The dog and girl were in the back seat, the older women in the front. Neither of the women were belted when the accident happened. Both women flew into the windsheild, which decapitated them in front of the little girl. She was the only survivor. Imagine how horrible it would feel to see your mother and grandmother decapitated, to have your dog died, and how guilty you would feel for surviving. WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!!!

I was in an accident where the airbag on my side failed to deploy but the one on the passanger side did. No one was in that seat, but the smoke was killer. They are insanely expensive to replace too.

John

Mine hit my left arm hard enough to tear my watch off, & leave a burn mark with a perfect tan line where the watch was. But my face didn't bounce off the steering wheel like it would have with an earlier model car, so I'm glad it was there.

http://www.fiveofanatic.com/wreck/wreck07.jpg