Mekanik Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 Would you feel safe letting your child ride on the front seat of a vehicle that is equipped with airbags that will supposedly turn the airbag off if the child is too small? The vehicle is a Buick Rendezvous and my neighbor drove her to school. My daughter is 8 years old and probably 75lbs and tall for her age. I have not asked my neighbor yet if the passenger airbag light was off. I was reading the owner's manual for her vehicle(got to love the internet) and it claims that if a child who has outgrown child restraints is sitting in that seat it will turn off the airbag. Of course there is no specification. If the airbag was not disabled maybe she really is big enough for the airbag. Maybe she is actually safer (assuming she is big enough) sitting behind an airbag. What do you guys think? I really trust you guy’s opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHNO60 Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 I have to be honest, i feel better with my own kids sitting in the back. Believe they have an occupancy weight sensor that shuts the passenger bag on/off. Although we turned out ok driving in a 72 thunderbird,hanging out the passenger window. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 I don't have any kids. However. My kids would not be riding in the front seat of my super duty with the airbag enabled, and there's no off switch. So in the back till you're big enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 My kids are always in the back seat, with the exception of the two or three times my son rode to the gas station at the corner (less than 1/4 mile). I just like many of you was brought home from the hospital in a 1960's leaded fuel burning chunk of Detroit steel with a steel dash board(it may have had some halfassed foam pad on it) in my moms lap without a seatbelt, car seat, airbag or anti lock brakes,there's a strong possibility it didn't even have disc brakes much less power brakes. I rode in similar vehicles for many many years, I traveled around the country in the back of a station wagon playing with matchbox cars. We survived to tell the tale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 T'would be circa 1956 or 7. The car would be about a 49 Dodge... A Wayfarer or Coronet.... though I could never be absolutely certain. Four wheel drum brakes... a single hydraulic circuit and no power brakes or steering. We drove from Camp Borden, Ontario to Ladner, B.C. (actually, Vancouver Wireless Station - just a few short miles outside of Ladner). The Transcanada Highway was still under construction and most of the trip was on US roads... much of that was gravel. I still remember the the Burma Shave signs. The car sported the universal sign of the long distance traveller... a canvas water bag slung over one of the front bumperettes on the car. Came home from the hospital? I was born in the same bed in the same house that my mother was born in... Don't get me going on a nostalgia kick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted May 4, 2010 Author Share Posted May 4, 2010 So you guys think I'm overreacting? I totally respect that. I just wanted some opinions from other techs like me that understand the way these things operate and know that they operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 Don't get me wrong there is good safety equipment now and if used properly it will protect all of us. A trip outside the USA/Canada would shock you. I was in the Dominican Republic and I never saw a car seat, I did see the whole family riding in the back of a pickup or on one motorcycle. The father was riding with the toddler in from of him on the tank with the mother behind him holding a baby and nobody thought it odd it's the norm. BTW even when my son rides in the front for even such a short trip like to the corner he always has a seatbelt on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted May 5, 2010 Author Share Posted May 5, 2010 I did see the whole family riding in the back of a pickup or on one motorcycle. The father was riding with the toddler in from of him on the tank with the mother behind him holding a baby and nobody thought it odd it's the norm. That is unbelievable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 In Mexico and the Caribbean the police use Ford pickups set up with two benches on the bed sides (a la military troop transports) for prisoner transport. No seatbelts, no protection of any kind for the occupants. It's a different world all right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy57 Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 The risk is there either way but a child or small stature adult using seat belt will have their injury risk from airbag reduced to the point that it is almost nil. If your daughter, at her size, is belted and there was a severe frontal accident the airbag being there to provide additional cushioning when the belt yielded as designed (stretched) would be a good thing. The mortal risk is from unrestrained children/small adults meeting an airbag during the bag's primary inflation phase. by the way, the sketchy specs on weight/size is due to the technology used to sense the occupant. The gel bladder-pressure sensor is the best and most accurate but it is not pinpoint accurate. Some clothing on cloth seats will have enough grip between occupant's back and the seat material (bare skin and leather can do the same) that will effectively reduce weight borne on gel pad. Odd seating positions of the occupants can reduce the weight that is placed on center of seat bottom cushion and affect the weight registered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony302600 Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 In Mexico and the Caribbean the police use Ford pickups set up with two benches on the bed sides (a la military troop transports) for prisoner transport. No seatbelts, no protection of any kind for the occupants. It's a different world all right. I went there last week for vacation and the stuff you see there makes you think we're in armored trucks. LoL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregH Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 by the way, the sketchy specs on weight/size is due to the technology used to sense the occupant. The gel bladder-pressure sensor is the best and most accurate but it is not pinpoint accurate. Some clothing on cloth seats will have enough grip between occupant's back and the seat material (bare skin and leather can do the same) that will effectively reduce weight borne on gel pad. Odd seating positions of the occupants can reduce the weight that is placed on center of seat bottom cushion and affect the weight registered. I understand the uncertainty in the measured weight in the seat. But aren't we talking about the RCM using this information to choose one of three options? No fire, fire loop 1, or fire loop 2? If so, I would think a hyper accurate weight is not necessary. Can it fire loop 1 and 2 simultaneously for another option? Does it also time the firing differently depending on the weight? Would it also time it based on seat track position if it's got that sensor? The strategy behind these things is fascinating... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 I reached thru the passenger side of a car the other day and leaned on the very most outer edge of the seat while I turned the ignition off with my left hand and the air bag deactivated indicator came on fast. I let up it went out, leaned on it and it came on. I was impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 A bigger danger, in my jaundiced old eye would be an independant shop, bereft of adequate manuals, doing something that would require a system reset of re-initialization... and then not doing it. (Or a dealer tech that didn't check the WSM... same difference). There is far too much "stuff" on late model vehicles that we can't hope to remember or consider when we do even some of the simplest labour ops. A far cry from OCS considerations, let us visit something as simple and mundane as installing a wheel on a vehicle... This would be section 204-04 in the WSM. Just for shits and grins compare 09 F350 (pay close attention to step 2 of the removal instructions) with both 09 Focus and with 09 Fusion... Note the obvious differences... Pay attention to both what IS said.... and what ISN'T said. No way in hell can we remember everything we need to know. You're best defence is learning how to navigate the manuals... and use them and OASIS every chance you get. Sorry for the digression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 Thanks for all the responses. I have decided that my daughter will be safer if she just avoids driving in a car in the first place. That was a joke, I was only kidding. As much as I want to keep my kids safe, I think it's just as important to let them live, be kids, and enjoy life. I explained all of this to my wife but in the end she felt really strong about an eight-year old sitting in the front seat. I have to respect her opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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