Before I bought my RX-8 I knew I would have my 2-year-old and 8-year-old in the back and my 10-year-old in the front. I'm always mindful of 'fit' issues with airbags. They're not magic so like everything else they must be used correctly. I searched here and found a couple of threads of questions, but no detailed first-hand accounts of the airbags. Worse than that, I found various bits of misinformation (can you believe some people don't even know what their owner's manual says?)

So, I'd like to make a thread of first-hand accounts. Not full accident stories, not second-hand accounts, not rumors or myths about airbags. If you actually were in an RX-8 when an airbag deployed tell us about it (or ask your airbag questions here).

Here is my story:

The set-up - deer darts in front of my car at 55mph.
The impact - hit the 100+lbs doe perfectly centered head-on.
Vehicle Occupants - only me, the driver.
The deployment - both front airbags deployed, no side or side curtains. (NOTE: the passenger front airbag *did* deploy even though there was no passenger, even though the passenger seatbelt was not buckled - just like is says in the owner's manual)

I'm 5'11" so I sit reasonably far back from the wheel, but closer than some because I like to get the clutch all the way down without twisting in the seat and stretching for it).

Here's the most unusual thing I found - the airbag only hit my chest and not all that hard. The airbag didn't even graze my chin, I think it is somewhat smaller than I imagined. I certainly did not do the textbook face-plant that we see in the NHTSA slow-motion videos. The airbag also did not fling my arms off the steering wheel (further evidence of smaller diameter and an additional benefit). I was able to see, steer and brake before, during and after the deployment. This afternoon I will try to find some data on driver's airbag diameters for RX-8s and other vehicles. Also, there was no 'cloud' in the car immediately. There was smoke later, but not right away and no evidence of any talc or powder which might have been used to prevent the airbag from sticking to itself.

The seat-belt/airbag cooperation was excellent. The seat-belt fired it's one-time emergency-hold latch so I was tightly held in the perfect position to meet the airbag, but I did not get a hip-bruise from the buckle or a chest abbrasion from the shoulder-belt sliding.

Personal injury - none. I didn't have a mark or dent on my person. I didn't lose control of the car or get my marbles rattled. My back muscles began to tighten up a couple of hours later, but after consulting with my phyisician by phone we agreed a couple of ibuprofin and a hot bath were all that was warrented. The doc said I'd feel worst on the 3rd day, but honestly I never had even a twinge after the hot bath. I may go see this particularly cute, I mean, talented, I mean competent massage therapist this week, at least as consolation for the loss of the car. My chest never hurt. Mostly I think I remembered the feeling of something soft pushing my chest rather than still feeling any sensation from it.

Aftermath - the vehicle was still driveable so after talking to the sheriff I drove it (extra-carefully) the final 3 miles home with my wife following in her van. The driver's seatbelt was useless because of the emergency mechanism that had fired. It just hung limply at full extension and would not retract. The trapdoor on the top of the steering wheel had swung back so hard it got lodged under the top of the steering wheel which blocked the view of my gauges, but after I pried it back and flipped it down it and the airbag didn't seriously interfere with steering. The passenger front airbag didn't appear to do any secondary damage to the dashboard during deployment - it just popped out the trapdoor. There was no fire, but their was a strong evil, pungent smell from the airbag propellent that lingered in the car and white smoke pouring through the air vents for several minutes after the crash. I did remove my laptop and other valuables just in case something started a fire.

Compare/Contrast - 8 years ago I was run off the road in a rainstorm and hit a tree at 45mph in a 1995 Pontiac Sunfire. That was a more vicious impact and the airbag hit my face. It gave me a fat lip and a bloody nose in addition to a really sore bruise on my right hip from the seatbelt buckle and a bright red abbrasion in the center of my chest where the shoulder belt had slid. I also very clearly lost what I estimate to be 3 seconds of time. Then and now I can play the memory backward and forward and I'm sure there's ~3 seconds missing. I saw the approach to the tree, remember thinking, "aaawwww s*&$", then a huge BANG, then the world faded in from black with me sitting upright, eyes open. It was like coming out from under anesthesia when I had my wisdom teeth removed, but faster and in the Sunfire I was instantly alert once I had my marbles back. My first thought as the world faded in was that the car was on fire because there was a thick white cloud. After a second I realized it was some powder like white baby powder which had been packed in with the airbag. The next second I realized my face really hurt like I had been hit hard with something hard, but no real harm done.

So, there's my stories. I'd really like to hear stories of the side and side-curtain airbags. I investigated the position and shape of the side-curtain airbags because I wanted to be sure they would not strike a toddler-seat installed in the back seat when they inflated. According to pictures I've seen (both crash and Mazda pictures) there is no interference, but I've never heard a detailed first-hand account of side airbag deployments.

 

You're right to change your habits. The habit I fight against is holding the bottom of the steering wheel.

However, having met two driver's airbags I speak from experience when I say I fear the steering column penetrating my chest much more than I fear broken thumbs, a fat lip or even a vicious scar on my face (though none of those happened in my cases).

Anyone have a detailed account of RX-8 side or side-curtain airbags?

 

KYLiquid - you're exactly right. Compared to the wallop I received from the airbag in my Sunfire crash the RX-8's airbag merely tapped me. The RX-8 must have activated the reduced deployment.

Not to get all geeky about it, but according to Newton, "net force is proportional to mass when accelleration is constant." Say both crashes were ~55mph. In one case we have a 3,000lb car striking an immovable object. In another case we have a 3,000lb car striking a 100lb stationary, but quite movable object. Rough engineering estimate - seems like 1/30th the impact. Maybe I'll get ambitious and try to calculate how many g's the driver would suffer in those two cases assuming no mitigration from the crush zones.

One other footnote to my RX-8 airbag story. The propellant has a really evil, acrid smell which was still really strong on Monday following a Friday crash. I asked the dealer doing the repairs about cleansing the interior of the smell and they said after a car gets such, *ahem*, extensive body work at their shop they always perform a 'full detailing' as the final step. That would include a thorough interior cleaning and given my specific complaint about the propellant odor they'd be sure to hit it with some new car smell.

If anyone sends a car to be repaired after an airbag deployment I'd recommend making a special request for interior cleansing for the smell alone. That's something the body shop and insurance adjuster are not likely to think of on their own.

 

Thanks for the bump Racer X-8. Actually, there have been two recent RX-8 side-impacts reported in other threads. I'd really like to see details about those airbags. YT1300's post is misleading - it seems to imply there are not side or side-curtain airbags for the driver, but we all know that's not true. Some RX-8 drivers have met those bags (just as I have met the steering-wheel bag).

However, YT1300 also brings up people sleeping against the door/window. That is one of the reasons I started this thread - to increase awareness of the consequences of having such airbag devices in the car. From the very first day I owned it I have been vigilent against the kids sleeping against the doors and it's something I try to keep in mind to mention to adult passengers too.

The airbag system was almost a deal-breaker with my RX-8 because the front passenger airbag could not be disabled when my 10-year-old rode up front and I couldn't find information about the side-curtain airbags to assure myself the toddler-seat would be safe in the back seat. Hopefully others who want to know details about their airbags will find this in a search too and find it helpful.

One more footnote to my RX-8 airbag story. I asked the dealer about decoding the 'black-box' from the car to see if they could confirm the airbag system deliberately deployed with reduced force because it detected a relatively small impact. The service manager at Vincent Mazda in Rochester, NY claimed they did not have the equipment or software to make such a query. He claimed he had heard of it being done. In fact, he had heard of it being done in Rochester to confirm the speed of a vehicle for a court case (driver struck and killed two pedestrians - vehicle's speed was key to determining level of negligence or something of that nature). Anyway, I'll never get confirmation of the deployment force, but I'd sure bet it wasn't the full monty.

So, where're our side impact stories?

 

*bump* Anyone met a side-curtain or seat-torso airbag from an RX-8?

 

Agreed - I think it's all about position. The correct distinction is not child/adult, but size.

Given that - cars should have adjustable pedals so you can arrange the proper distance to sit from the airbag by moving the seat, then adjust the pedals so they're suitable to better protect drivers of different sizes.

Getting back to kids according the NHTSA and other US government websites I read there has never been a death caused by an airbag when a child was properly seated and seat-belted. I couldn't find any good data on injuries.

All of the terrible, gruesome deaths I read about were due to some idiot adult mounting an infant seat up against an airbag. There should be a strict condemnation and penalty for such a driver, but instead there's usualy public outcry against the car manufacturer. *sigh*

 

Hey Aseras, thanks for the story. I appreciate the brevity of your post, but I'm curious about the apparent harm the airbags caused you and the lack of protection for your passenger.

What year sundance?

How were you holding the steering wheel? Did you get a friction burn or chemical burn on your wrists (sounds like you mean friction)?

Was the fog in the car white? Was it smoke, powder or both? Did it smell like burning carpets?

How was your cousin cut? What was his seat position? Did he have an airbag or was that sundance "driver-side-only"?

The time my Pontiac Sunfire hit a tree at 50mph I braced pretty good, but still smacked my face and chest onto the airbag quite hard. The RX-8 airbag only tapped my chest, but it did hit me nonetheless.

I think the Sunfire popped my arms out and away from the steering wheel, but I never noticed - certainly no marks on arms, wrists or hands. I'm pretty certain the RX-8 bag wasn't big enough to do that.