How safe are first generation airbags?

[daugen]

Just about every human being on Earth now knows Takata made air bags that can kill you, instead of save your life.
But this isn't about them at all.
My understanding through reading is that American trucks at least, not sure about cars, encased the air bags in different containment structure design which
was also heavier duty.
My concern is over the propellant. Some of these airbags are over 40 years old now. But we don't ever hear of anyone
with a problem with an old American car or truck. Or do we? Anyone know?
What's going on with those old actuators and how well do they still work. Can you just unplug the connector to disarm?
What happens to the chemicals inside...

Like a few of you...I have a "fun car". Sometimes I look at a car in that 70's period and wonder if the cool ride is worth it if
my head takes a hit likened to that of a shotgun. Now if it just went hiss and didn't work, that works for me...but wouldn't it be nice
if they made a really simple owner friendly cartridge for these air bags that we could replace ourselves. Like the little gas bottles in marine
flotation vests... But instead it's a dealer big thing.

If you have knowledge of how these things were made, and hold up, I bet a lot of us would appreciate the education.
Some of us reading this likely have those airbags right in front of us when we drive.
thanks
Drew

 

[daugen]

My awareness of these issues were sure heightened when a close relative went into panic mode when
I told them about their first gen Honda Civic with the worst of the worst Takata air bags in it. The car got parked and towed to the dealer.
And he was only second owner, used to be my Uncle's car and it stayed in the family. Not a car guy at all.
I think six people had been killed by then strictly due to that airbag design.

That's when I realized we could be driving around with bombs in our trucks and cars. Of course, hybrid batteries can explode, you can imagine the worst in anything, but
those six people weren't imagining what they got when they drove their cars that day.

 

[dodge man]

First off I don’t think there are many cars with 40 year old air bags. Maybe 30 tops.

My bet is they would work fine. The problem with early air bags was small and or old people. They were too powerful. If you aren’t small, I wouldn’t sweat it.

 

[daugen]

Thanks. Well, I am shrinking as I get older...
Ok, I remember, that's what caused the new "gentler" lower pressure bags to come out. Folks with glasses on were really getting bloodied.
Buick, Olds and Cadillac got them in most models in 1974, had to look that up. GM seemed to have the lead back then.
That's 44 years ago. Chrysler's became standard 40 years ago.
Airbag - Wikipedia

If the first gen ones were for sure not kinder and gentler, I'm going to say any car made in the 70's with an airbag is suspect.
I have no idea what replacing the driver and passenger air bags would cost. Back then, that's all you got.
Now there are an amazing number of air bags in cars.

Fire extinguishers, marine life vests, lots of precedent for maintaining things that generate pressure.
But nothing about 40 year old airbags.
Kinda surprised Labor & Industry, if that's what it is still called, doesn't regulate air bags in some way. DOT does, or is it NHSTA ?

here's an interesting article:

The Hidden Dangers of Older Airbags

I really think I'd pull the plug on the airbag if it was old enough. At least for me, not like something that old would be a daily driver.
Interesting that early US airbags killed hundreds of times more people than Takata, a lot of them kids, but we love to focus on Takata.

 

[disney]

Greetings all, I am not going to devote the time to look up all the actual statistics on the large # of lives airbags have saved, vs. the very small # of deaths in relation. Yes early air bags deployed with more force, some of that may well have been because they had to in order to deploy fast enough to protect an occupant not wearing a seat belt. Current air bags actually contain two propellant charges, and depending on many factors (rate of deceleration, is the belt buckled, maybe even distance to seat) they can fire only one, trigger the second after a delay, or both simultaneously. Unfortunately many children perished when airbags were first introduced because parents did not understand, or follow guidelines not to let young children in front seats, especially with rear facing child seats. If I knew I was going to be in a severe head on collision, I would rather take my chances with an airbag, than not, and I live in FL where ours are the most susceptible to issues due to high humidity.

 

[daugen]

Disney, I think the stats were about one percent, or maybe it was a tenth of one percent...but if it's you, that's the biggest number of them all.
In other words one percent of the early bags involved in a collision hurt someone.

Air bags are bad news if one's seat belt is not on. Lot of folks found that out the hard way.

I'm just asking all this in case I see a car in that era I'd like to collect, be the "fun car". Just concerned about
hidden dangers. Most of my career was in insurance, including being an underwriter, so I'm very safety oriented.

If it costs 500 bucks to replace a 1978 Olds Toronado driver air bag, for example, and I have no idea what it costs, then we know
there is a solution to the problem and it has a known cost. I'm not sure what we know at this point, nor am I trying to invent a problem.
I'm just asking to perhaps stay away from certain cars.

I think it's interesting that MB waited until 1981 to bring an air bag only to their S class.
I bet that's a nice cheap part to replace...

 

[JJZ 109]

I don't know about airbags from way back when. All I know is that I've been waiting a long time for the passenger side replacement parts to show up at Ford for my 2007 Mustang GT. I'd be surprised if it ever happens.

 

[oosik]

I wonder - what defines "first generation" for air bags? Is it by model year of the car, by year of manufacturer of the air bag - something else?? Do these air bags have a date of expiration? What is an owner expected to do if there is a date of expiration??

 

[schmism]

fist gen? My 2001 bmw 330i just got its 2 airbags replaced. But thats hardly first gen. First gen would be the air bag that performed flawlessly several years ago when i stuffed my 1991 318is into a telephone pole at on a cold march night and got the air bag experience. (low speed event).

But first gen airbags (90's) were not multi stage either. new ones will deploy faster (harder) or slower/softer depending on speed. that requires considerably more tech in the ammonium nitrate filled "expander" aka controlled explosion maker

 

[PILOON]

At one point they were actually re building airbags but the Gov't soon put a stop to that as all sorts of trash and reliability issues came up.
AS a result a friends nice clean 6 year old Mercedes was scrapped simply because his teen hit a curb rather hard, enough to set off most bags.
It was low mileage nicely detailed.