Safety air bag transplant

[Footjoy]

Has anyone ever transplanted a air bag column into older car?

[silver69camaro]

That's an extremely complicated procedure and most aren't willing to take it on. In the end, meaning at the event of an accident, it may not even work properly.

How how are you going to test it?

[Steve Chryssos]

Airbags are dangerous. But, then again, so is needlepoint.

[bigvegan]

Having just had a fender bender in my Honda this past weekend, where both airbags deployed, I'd have to say I'd think twice about installing one in an older car.

1. They'd be expensive as hell to install aftermarket, even if you could find someone to do it.

2. If you're wearing your shoulder belts, and they're working, airbags don't add all that much protection (hence the absence of them in any racing league).

3. They are filled with an explosive charge. When that detonates, your car will be filled with acrid smoke that makes it hard to breathe. You will also likely think the car is on fire, and you will have to force yourself not to panic and run away from the car (especially if you're on the freeway when it happens.) I'm a pretty mellow guy, but breathing clouds of smoke tends to make me want to leave the area.

Now, I'm a bit of a safety freak, but those airbags are scary and expensive as hell. If you don't wear your seatbelts, by all means install them, but if you have shoulder belts, or better yet, racing harnesses attached to a cage out of reach of your head so you can drive safely with and without a helmet, you'd probably be fine.

My Honda? Since both airbags deployed, and it was an older car, it was a total loss. Apparently the airbags alone would be $2k to replace, and that's on a car that came with airbags from the factory.

[HILROD]

You can't retro fit airbags. There are times when they don't work right in a factory car. OEMs spend millions to design and fit these systems, to the millisecond. Any type of improper repair, or some times parts replacement can cause misfires. Crush zones are one of the keys to their working or not. You can't transplant every aspect of one car, weight, engine placement, and a whole lot of things all work together. Seatbelts, retractors, sensors, must be as designed. I've seen airbags kill, in an otherwise hardly damaged car. YOU CANNOT RETROFIT THEM. Sorry, but this has to be said.