The Miata needs a new steering wheel (the foam padding is coming disconnected from the solid core). So, do I buy a nice aftermarket wheel from CL and lose the use of my airbag? Or should I got to a dismantler and get a stock one so I still have a crash pillow?
I do not have a race seat or full harness yet. Car does see a significant amount of DD use.
A friend of mine swears against them. He crashed into a concrete barrier at nearly 50 degrees on an interstate and insists that it did nothing but scrape his face. He told me that since he was wearing his seatbelt correctly, he didn't move enough to really hit the airbag.
I have never needed to test one, thankfully. I'll know then if he is right or wrong.
They are good only for a single impact, if there's multiple impacts they are useless. For that and other reasons I do not trust them. I'd much rather be strapped firmly into place during a crash than to be loosely belted in with a momentary pillow.
I have a feeling that the one in my subaru helped prevent neck injury on me in my crash. (and actually probly kept broken glass out of my face)
http://archive.grassrootsmotorsports.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=26858
that said, my E30 not having one isnt a big deal to me.
Personal choice. As someone who drives a 1965 pickup with a giant plastic steering wheel and a steel dashboard, I can take 'em or leave 'em. I was not a fan of the original generation airbags as I've had customers injured and even killed by the deployments. However, the new staged ones aren't bad. One interesting consideration: if there's no airbag to go off, a minor accident has a better chance of not totalling your car. OTOH, an insurer may elect to deny you coverage on a car that has had it's safety equipment altered.
When was the change over between original generation and modern airbags?
This is on a '94 Miata.
If you autocross your miata, I think there are some funny rules about replacing your steering wheel (if it has an airbag)
It may be worth checking into...
14.2 D. Alternate steering wheels are allowed except that steering wheels with an integral airbag may not be changed.
I don't think there was a changeover to airbags. The 90 that I rode in on the Babe Rally had a driver's side airbag..
There's a company in Dallas that will sell you a reconditioned, leather covered Miata wheel or refurbish yours.
http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com
They also have one on e-bay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250258959754&rd=1
I'm also pretty sure your Miata has so-called "1st Gen" air bags. I don't think the staged deployment airbags showed up until some time in the M2s.
Despite copious amounts of anecdotal evidence to the contrary, you're statistically better off with an airbag than without. Otherwise, insurance companies wouldn't give discounts to cars that have them.
Check with your insurance company. Some will drop you if you tamper with safety equipment.
I've got a little bit of experience in this area, as I respond to a dozen or so accidents every week. For what it's worth, in the last ten years, I've only pulled one dead guy out of a vehicle who was wearing a seatbelt and whose airbag had deployed, and I'm pretty sure that he was dead for at least a little while before the accident.
Yeah, I've heard cops say they never pulled a dead guy from a wreck that was wearing a seatbelt. I call BS on that one. Many times they just life flght them down to the hospital so they can clear the freeway while someone jumps up and down on their chest. If they're "dead" then the cops have to wait for someone else to show up before they can clear the freeway. And don't even get me started on life flights, which almost always bring in dead people or people that could have taken a conventional ambulance, and not much inbetween.
In my experience, airbags will cause minor neck injuries in lower speed boo-boo's and prevent more major injuries in higher speed boo-boo's. Given the choice of no airbag or airbag, all other things being equal, I'd say go for the airbag. And of course, seatbelt or harness first.
One of my old girlfriends used to argue that she did not like wearing her seatbelt because it might hamper her egress if she happened to drive into a river.
Is everyone bickering whether or not they should wear a seatbelt and remove the airbag or not wear a seatbelt with one? Come on.
When I worked at Toyota back in the mid-90's there was lots of data coming in from the first few years of air-bag use. There was lots of debate on whether they were safe for pregnant women or small women (who sit closer to the wheel). The first gen bags were blamed on several deaths and miscarriages. The airbag comany suggestions? If you are small and sit close to the wheel, tilt the wheel/bag down away from your face. If you are pregnant and want to protect your unborn baby, tilt the wheel/bag up away from your baby (towards your face). I have no idea what they would suggest if you are petite and pregnant!
All that being said, I definitely prefer the later lower powered or staged bags. Still, I'm in the same boat as the original poster and I'll probably be replacing my wheel with a non-airbag wheel soon and I won't worry one bit about it.
my only concerns would be around my insurance and them doing nasty things to me if I did get in a wreck and they discovered I had altered my vehicle safety systems.
Dr. Hess wrote: In my experience, airbags will cause minor neck injuries in lower speed boo-boo's and prevent more major injuries in higher speed boo-boo's. Given the choice of no airbag or airbag, all other things being equal, I'd say go for the airbag. And of course, seatbelt or harness first.
Very well put.
In a fender bender, you are more likely to suffer a broken nose (and glasses) and minor abrasions to your arms that you may have avoided with a seatbelt alone. But in newer cars, the airbag often won't go off unless it is needed. Ten mph into a solid object is still a pretty significant impact, though.
An airbag without a seatbelt just redirects your body into something else.
I'm not trying to say that everyone with an airbag walks away uninjured. Some still need to be cut out of the car. Sometimes, a car is crushed so badly, nothing can save you.
Keep in mind the window of time in which I operate when weighing my comments. My involvement with a patient is usually limited to the half hour immediately following the incident. I don't have the misconception that just because we send a warm one to the hospital, they're out of the woods.
We never use lifeflight since were are close to several major hospitals and they would take more time than they would save. The only time we might consider it would be in the case of severe burns.
Having been in an accident where the airbag went off. I can say I really do not like them. I slammed into the back of a parked pickup while driving a Ford Escort Wagon. I was towing a trailer (empty) and had been forced to swerve to avoid another car. If I not been towing the trailer, I would have been able to stop in time.. as it was, I slammed into the pickup at about 20mph.
The airbag beat the snot out of my right hand and wrist.. but as I always wear my seatbelt, that was the only part of my body that came in contact with it.
The only reason I have not pulled the bag on my Ti.. I am unsure on the legality as far as inspection goes.
Okay, I know that to pass CA vehicle inspection I need to keep the factory airbag. I figured it would be easy enough to swap wheels back and forth when the time comes.
I hadn't really thought about the insurance issue. I suspect they will have some sort of exclusion for removing or disabling safety equipment.
I always wear my seatbelt.
Sounds like my answer is that the easiest thing to do is just to go to the dismantler and find a wheel that isn't wonky. That will almost certainly be the cheapest and easiest way to solve the problem. I'll probably change the steering wheel once I have a full harness and some sort of neck restraint system.
I have never been happy about having high explosives pointed at my face. I have not removed airbags from any cars that came equipted with them. But I have been tempted. My wife is relatively short and sits pretty close to the steering wheel. It makes me less happy to know high explosives are pointing directly at someone I love.
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