Airbag Deployment

[DrTaras]

Moderator's note: Thread moved from here.

With so much carbon fiber on the dash, I think they should have continued the theme on the airbag door in front of the passenger as well.

 

[TEG]

With so much carbon fiber on the dash, I think they should have continued the theme on the airbag door in front of the passenger as well.

Except it explodes off the dashboard when the airbag deploys, and your passenger would probably rather that be a softer material than carbon fiber if that happens. There are probably specific regulations stating what material can be used on airbag covers. (Maybe a faux carbon fiber decal would work?)

 

[vfx]

Except it explodes off the dashboard when the airbag deploys

Uh oh.

 

[ChargeIt!]

Except it explodes off the dashboard when the airbag deploys, ...

True, but isn't the cover on a hinge so that it pivots out of the way of the emerging airbag ... as opposed to flying freely into the passenger's face/chest ?

 

[TEG]

I don't know all the details, but there are certainly opinions out there:
Airbag Question - MP3Car.com

Don't forget that you not only want the airbag to still work as designed, you don't want pieces of your custom (fiberglass?) dash being blown into the eye socket of the person sitting in front of the airbag when it goes off.

Remember that for all intents and purposes, airbags are explosives that are designed to deploy from a specific structure in a very specific way.

Even the most minor modification, such as the cloth you suggest is going to affect the deployment of the airbag. Again, this is something calibrated to blow through a specific panel and meet your face in mere milliseconds without generating the kind of force that causes more injuries than it prevents.

Anything you stick in front of that constitutes a potential delay of deployment or even complete failure of that system... even if it's just a piece of cloth that wasn't there in the engineering model at design time. When the difference between a soft landing and picking a radio knob out of my skull is such a small period of time, i'll take all the time i can get.

If you do anything to the safety features of your car you could cause someone to be very hurt and could be liable for the injuries.

You modify the airbag cover in any way it would be "Gross Negligence" due to an improper change to a Federally required safety feature.

EUROPA - Consumer Affairs - Unsafe products

...The product poses a risk of injuries because the laser cut split line for the passenger airbag cover may be missing. As a result, the passenger airbag may not be able to expand in the case of an accident. ...

I think the cover of the airbag is supposed to be very thin and in some cases just tears away as the airbag expands.

I wouldn't want a hard/solid cover over my airbags(s).

 

[TEG]

But wait!, there's more:
GM Perf. Div. Emplem....where? - Chevy TrailBlazer, TrailBlazer SS and GMC Envoy Forum

...NOTHING, I REPEAT, NOTHING should EVER be affixed to the Driver Airbag or the Passenger Airbag cover. You or your passenger risks serious injury if/when the time comes when you need the airbags to deploy properly.

Yes, I am an Safety Restraints Engineer, and yes, I KNOW what I am talking about. Every so often a topic comes up at work about why we have to meet such stringent performance specifications; its threads like this that are good reminders...

(Half expecting to get the "Debbie Downer" branding again...)

 

[TEG]

Means for attaching an airbag cover - Patent EP0881129

...Traditionally airbag doors have weakened tear lines in the substrate of the material covering the airbag so that, on deployment, flaps are opened through which the airbag inflates...

 

[DRM]

I installed an airbag kill switch a few months ago, and in the process removed the cover. On most cars, the airbag explodes through the cover, but on the roadster it is a hard metal plate. The plate is attached to the bottom of the dash by two thick straps -- when the airbag deploys, it breaks 4 tiny plastic screws holding the cover in place, and the cover flips down below the airbag. See the thread on airbag kill switches for pix of the cover & guts of the dash.
//dan.

 

[Alpine Driver]

I was told from tesla at the purchasing process, that the area for the passenger airbag always remains uncovered, also at the executive leather option. Which looks wired, when you (would) order beige interior, and the large area of the passenger airbag remains black.
But thats how it is. (another reason that I went for full black interior).
They told me that BRABUS does cover the airbag area, they can do it on their customised roadsters, but the do precut the leather, a lot of tiny lines in the back, 3/4th of the strenght of the material, and they use special one for this. But tesla as a manufacturer wont doe that.