I wonder about this, do those airbags still work? What is the service life of these safety devices? Is there a service interval? My experience is that all safety related items like airbags are treated as radioactive by independent shops and you have to go to the dealer to get them replaced. Is there even guidance on how often to do that? What's the liability to the manufacturer if an airbag doesn't deploy after 20 years? Is there any?
> I wonder about this, do those airbags still work? What is the service life of these safety devices? Is there a service interval?
Well that is very relative, especially in the case of a 2001 Honda Accord that had(/was designed for) Takata ammonium nitrate based airbags. So those have had to have One or more recalls, IDK whether the replacements are 'fixed' or if they still have a service life.
Broadly speaking, check the owners manual. Older cars (i.e. 10+ years old) are likely going to be more conservative in estimates the further back you go as the tech was newer.
> My experience is that all safety related items like airbags are treated as radioactive by independent shops and you have to go to the dealer to get them replaced.
I think this is a fear of liability; I think it might? be difficult for non-dealers to get proper-channel replacements. Ironically, the Takata incident only reinforces this mindset, as the potential liability exposure vs perceived competence if something does happen will cause most small shops to avoid them.
Would a 2001 Accord have had the recall performed? My understanding is that there is a limited time manufacturers take responsibility for recalls, even safety related.
I know a guy who bought a 2007 (?) Toyota Tacoma and his frame cracked which was a recall but Toyota will not fix it now.
I recently had a chance to play with a done airbag. For readers’ peace of mind, I found no signs of blood or any severe driver injury, nor tobacco smell, though it did smell spilled soda.
There were holes behind the steering, through which you can push a single steel wire clip going around at three points, and the whole horn pad comes off. Behind the pad was a soft steel frame sandwiched between the bag and the inflator by threaded rods from bag side.
A thick yellow cable and a ground wire was attached through steering “clockspring”/“spiral cable”. A tab cleverly designed locked it so as to never loosen from vibrations. Ground wire seemed to double as the horn switch wire.
The particular inflator I had removed was a charred metal can with a flange that looks a bit like a small sachertorte or a large Korean chocolate pie with dozen 2-3mm(~1/10”) gas holes punched along its circumference.
As far as I can see, the thermoplastic horn pad alone seems to be somewhat distribution controlled, but the whole bag with cover and frames is through dealerships for $300-600. There seems to be remarkable cost saving is going on, and there seems to be much less variations, to the wheel, the above-mentioned frame, and the inflator, than for cars and trims and horn pads, looking at internet auctioning websites. Some parts are just the same, it seems.
These nitrate or any of explosive charges in common uses generally has expiry date and even shelf lives at temperatures; X months at 100F, Y years at -30C, and so on, but rarely going as long as a decade or longer. Obvious intuition is that total energy must decrease over time, but often their peak pressure of explosion increases dramatically, especially after experiencing high heat and/or vibration. This is what lead to Takata recalls: the peak became so high that the can didn’t hold.
With these pieces of knowledges, I think that airbags ideally should be temperature monitored and regularly replaced once per few years. It’s almost trivial to do, at least for driver’s front airbag. It might even be possible for drivers to do. The heavy caveat to it is that replacing all airbags for a car would cost couple grands every year or two per car for tens of millions of cars on the road. That’s difficult.
My Takata airbag was recalled. I have been burned by the dealer before so I demanded they come to my house and let me watch them do the replacement. They agreed and sent a tech out.
He popped the airbag/horn assembly off the steering wheel by inserting a screwdriver in a hole I never noticed on the side of the steering wheel. He unplugged the whole assembly, plugged in the new one, clipped it in place and was done. Took maybe one minute.
This could EASILY be a service part, based on what I saw. I assume it isn’t for liability reasons. Presumably that is also why the parts are expensive. Not for manufacturing but for R&D and liability.
