Blow airbags on snowdrifts?

[cqaigy2]

I witnessed similar 2 years ago when we had a big snow storm roll through. Some places ended up with 2ft. We had around 16" at our house.

That's a huge storm for central Arkansas where the average is 3" of slush and ice with an inch or so of snow on top.

First day of the storm, i took my wife to work in the truck. Going the route she normally took, most cars were getting belly hung when turning off onto secondary roads.

Not one of those people out traveling, thought to put a shovel in the trunk of their car.

I lost all faith in humanity the next day when I was coming home from taking my wife to work and the plow truck sanded and salted 8" of snow without once dropping his snow plow

Maybe didn't know how to operate the plow. We don't get much snow here, but do get a fair bit of slush, that freezes at night. One evening came around the corner to a county "snowplow" diagonal with the front end in the ditch. They'd been trying to pull the truck back out, while it was still full of sand. I got out to talk and mentioned that they may never get the truck back on the road while it's still full. Then left. Later that night, going back home, i saw a big pile of sand, kinda spread around on the road, and no snowplow, so they must have gotten it out.

 

[Tinhack]

I don't think air bag circuits have a fuse. They used to be wired directly to battery power AND have a capacitor that will fire them in case the battery is damaged in a crash. You can't just disconnect them either. The computer will go into limp mode and restrict speed.

 

[Dftodd]

Maybe didn't know how to operate the plow. We don't get much snow here, but do get a fair bit of slush, that freezes at night. One evening came around the corner to a county "snowplow" diagonal with the front end in the ditch. They'd been trying to pull the truck back out, while it was still full of sand. I got out to talk and mentioned that they may never get the truck back on the road while it's still full. Then left. Later that night, going back home, i saw a big pile of sand, kinda spread around on the road, and no snowplow, so they must have gotten it out.

Road was plowed all the way to the hill. Then sanded up the hill without plowing

I ended up calling the county a few years back. They mainly salt and sand intersections here.

Couldn't figure it out. I would see sand and salt laid the width of the intersection. But the salt didn't start till after the intersection

I got behind the plow truck and realized that there was a delay from when they flipped the switch in the cab till it actually started spreading sand and salt. I would see the sander head start spinning but it wouldn't start actually spreading till they cleared the intersection.

I called the county road department and explained what I was seeing. The next time around they were actually sanding the intersections.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Road was plowed all the way to the hill. Then sanded up the hill without plowing

I ended up calling the county a few years back. They mainly salt and sand intersections here.

Couldn't figure it out. I would see sand and salt laid the width of the intersection. But the salt didn't start till after the intersection

I got behind the plow truck and realized that there was a delay from when they flipped the switch in the cab till it actually started spreading sand and salt. I would see the sander head start spinning but it wouldn't start actually spreading till they cleared the intersection.

I called the county road department and explained what I was seeing. The next time around they were actually sanding the intersections.

I learned at my last place years ago to never call the county. New folks moved in and complained to the county about the plowing. After that we were the last place to be plowed in the county. I would watch the plow driver drive by on their way somewhere else with the plow up. They would comeback right at the 24hr window to plow 1 lane. Never insult the cook I told that neighbor…

 

[Dftodd]

I learned at my last place years ago to never call the county. New folks moved in and complained to the county about the plowing. After that we were the last place to be plowed in the county. I would watch the plow driver drive by on their way somewhere else with the plow up. They would comeback right at the 24hr window to plow 1 lane. Never insult the cook I told that neighbor…

They don't plow the secondary roads here, unless we get a foot or more of snow.

The road I was calling on was the 4 lane highway around the town.

I was polite, explained what was happening and explained the 2 second delay for their sander.

 

[BadDecisions]

I don't think air bag circuits have a fuse. They used to be wired directly to battery power AND have a capacitor that will fire them in case the battery is damaged in a crash. You can't just disconnect them either. The computer will go into limp mode and restrict speed.

Not that I'm arguing with certainty one way or the other, but I do recall frequently seeing mentions in service manuals to pull an air bag fuse any time one is working under the dash or in the steering column of a vehicle specifically to avoid inadvertently blowing the bag during repair work. I've also had a number of vehicles that popped an "air bag" or SRS light on the dash that didn't do squat as far as restricting speed or going in to a limp mode...

 

[Tinhack]

Not that I'm arguing with certainty one way or the other, but I do recall frequently seeing mentions in service manuals to pull an air bag fuse any time one is working under the dash or in the steering column of a vehicle specifically to avoid inadvertently blowing the bag during repair work. I've also had a number of vehicles that popped an "air bag" or SRS light on the dash that didn't do squat as far as restricting speed or going in to a limp mode...

You could be right about limp mode. I remember seeing SRS lights on the dash. Perhaps it wasn't just the SRS light. My experience is from the 90's when the book said to disconnect the battery positive and touch it to ground for 10 seconds. Then leave it disconnected while working on any sheet metal. On the earlier sensors, you had to remove those completely before hammering on sheet metal because they couldn't be reset and may trigger air bags when the battery was reconnected. I don't recall any fuse for air bag systems. It would have been too easy to defeat them.

 

[ray66v]

I used to get customers who were in minor accidents, insisting something was wrong with the airbags because they didn't "go off".

I would say, were you injured at all? They would say no. I would say, then you didn't need it, that's most likely why it didn't "go off". They are designed to deploy if they are needed.

If the air bags work as they are supposed to, and yes there are manufacturers who fail to make them work properly all the time, you should be fine.

I have never seen one deploy from snow plowing either. But, I'm pretty sure if someone was crazy enough, they could do it.

 

[MossRoad]

No airbags....

 

[JJT]

Our town still has several old Walters (1950's vintage) with Vee plows and double wings. They get pulled out of cold storage when we get hit with nor'easters that dump 4'+ of snow. We also have a pair of 1950's snowblowers to handle 10'+ snow drifts.