Comments on: Passive Car Safety Systems – A Passive Attack!

By: LessQQ

LessQQ — Sat, 08 May 2010 05:59:23 +0000

I can think of one.

They can introduce ejection systems for high speed collisions like in jets.

LOL

By: Phill

Phill — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:58:19 +0000

Real – look up safety in the dictionary,notice how its not called a supplemental SAFETY system,because it would not be true to the word.

By: Davo

Davo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:55:21 +0000

Another factor that comes into play is speed at impact.
I don’t doubt that Airbags can be a life saver.
Not long ago survival in a 60kmh collision was seen as being difficult to achieve even by the best in the industry despite crumple zones & efforts to control the energy away from the driver & occupants.Much was made of this in sale pitches of numerous makes.
My suspicion is once a certain speed is reached nothing will save you no matter how many airbags are deployed.
PHOTO of the jeep & lighter wagon used before but the structure of the JEEP is buckled & bent whereas the other is still largely intact.
Being Airbag equipped is only part of the equation.

By: The Real Car Fanatic

The Real Car Fanatic — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:25:39 +0000

238 deaths between 1990 and 2002 in the US by the deployment of airbags is not bad. I think you will also find that of these 238 deaths a significant number of them were not wearing seat belts. I guess that why the Airbag is called a Supplemental restraint system.

Look up supplemental in the dictionary Phill, then you might understand more about airbags and how vital they are.

By: Wazza

Wazza — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:30:02 +0000

Never been in a prang so i would’nt know.

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:16:24 +0000

The Fellow in the Toyota that ploughed into the car behind me that was pushed into the back of my car unfortunately did not break a nose when his air bag deployed.

By: Camski

Camski — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:14:49 +0000

xBeanie – You know those ‘active’ pre-coll. systems?
I think that helps in the understanding of passive and active. Your definition of active appears to be correct to me, however for it to be active, I believe the “system”, whichever it may be, needs to be able to vary itself in some way.

For example, the pre-collision systems vary many aspects of the car, where as a seat belt is either on, or off.

This means that in some aspects, the newer low/high impact airbag systems could be classified as active because they are no longer just deploy or not-deploy, but have a variable that affects how the deploy occurs.

By: xBeanie

xBeanie — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:11:03 +0000

I think there is some debate around what is “passive” and what is “active”. To my way of thinking “active” means it does something explicitly to prevent or minimise the impact of an accident and whether it is triggered by the driver, computer or mechanical device is irrelevant. I would see features such as crumple zones, anti-submarining seats and good quality tyres as being passive safety features.

Excellent article, nevertheless.

Some of the comments were predictable. There is a lot of misinformation out there on this topic and I love how some people are eager to believe it. Of course its all just a government conspiracy to keep the seatbelt and airbag people in business.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:06:39 +0000

They had that in some cars in the 80′s, from memory, and it drove everyone mad. I can remember Paul Hogan doing a skit on it. The “trick” was to put the passenger seat belt into the drivers seat fastener. Dont blame me, I was only a youngster…

By: Callous Aussie

Callous Aussie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:26:24 +0000

With all this safety technology I am amazed vehicle manufacturers haven’t made seatbelts that are linked to the ignition. No seatbelt , no start. It can’t be that hard.