BlackShadow113

did any non convertable FCII's come with a driver's side airbag? if not, how hard would it be to install one

Wankel7

No, not in the states I am sure of.

However, I would have to imagin that would be one intense install.

ESP considering how old that stuff is.

James

Scott 89t2

no only the verts

BlackShadow113

damn, and the convertable turbos dont have LSD do they? damn these crazy <japanese> didnt get **** right in the beginning

<edited for derogitory slang term>

Dan H

No TII 'verts in the US but I think '91 verts had a driver side airbag.

Valkyrie

Every FC in Japan came with a turbo. I think whether it came with an LSD, ABS, etc depended on the trim level.

BlackShadow113

ok but for the rx-7s that you can get here in the states, you have to choose between a vert and an airbag and no abs, or no vert and abs but no airbag.

BlackShadow113

ohh i didnt know there werent any vert turbos...ok that makes sense then. cause what i want is a turbo with an airbag, but i guess it aint happening. at least i can put a nice steering wheel on now without sacrificing my saftey, cause its already been sacrificed

barcode

iTrader: (1)

Airbags are only really useful in head on collsions, in a lot of other crashes they are proven to be somewhat harmful.

RETed

Retrofitting an airbag system to a car that didn't come with it is asking for a lot of problems.
I put money you accidently trigger the airbag upon installation.

And, by the way, what is YOUR ethnicity?
I'll let the "****" slip, but your use of "japs" is straight-up derogatory.
Please refrain from comments like that or else I might let a "**** you" slip too.
Yes, I'm 100% JAPANESE.


-Ted

BlaCkPlaGUE

lmao, agreed.

There is a reason why the dealers are the only ones who can repair and re-install airbags for your car.

Icemark

Air bags have absolutly no place in a automobile anyway, why would anyone in the world ever want to install one???

Yeah I want to install a explosive device with hot gases that burn you and an expansion rate that could bust your wrists 1 foot from my face.

Air bags are for idiots too stupied to use a seat belt. A good working 3 point seat belt will protect you 1000% better than a explosive device mounted to the steering wheel or dash.

And retrofitting one??? what are you thinking??? The whole dash structure would have to be replaced as well as all the controls for turn signals and curise control, plus the CPU would need to be re-wired...

KingCobraV9

iTrader: (2)

exactly my thoughts. airbags are for morrons and people who cant drive. when i tell people my car lacks abs and airbacs the look at me like im retarted for driving it. i tell them that they are the ones who are retarted for needing it. same for peole who tell me im stupid for driving a standard (really happened) i tell them they need to learn to drive and that auto trannys were made for idiots and old ppl who schouldnt drive any way.

Madrx7racer

didn't we bitch someone out not too long ago about this? Search.

totallimmortal

yeah thats what i was thinking it hasn't been too long since this was askerd and although many peopleare againts airrbags they do work, but only if installed right and i doubt many do it yourselfers could doit right. The way i look at it we have a saftey advantage in these cars becasue the handle and brake welll so instead of an airbag get some good tires , a few suspensions mods and a brake job and you'll be able to avoid more accidents, i can't count how many times my good brakes have saved me and all i could think was damn if i was in my truck i'd be screwed. So just be carefull and don't hit **** andf you should be alright

Wankel7

Man, all that I know is ABS saved my *** and my car. Was hauling down an on ramp getting ready to merge....but there was somebody stopped at the yield waiting for their, "Big chance". Had not choice but to brake hard in a turn. ABS let me continue to steer while I stopped in time. Thanks ABS Saved my *** just when I decided to overextend it OO

BlackShadow113

im sorry for using that racial comment. i didnt use it to offend anyone, but i obviously wasnt thinking. so you all know, i am arab, so u can make fun of me all you want. once again, sorry for that racial comment. and the only reason id want an airbag is for insurance purposes, cause i think it might be cheaper if you have an airbag. as for installing one on the car, i was just seeing if anyone had done it previously. no way in hell would i waste that much money on an airbag, when i could spend it on some new drilled and vented rotors, some good tires, and a racing seat with a 3 point harness. and yes, i have been in an accident where the airbags have delpoyed. good thing it wasnt me driving, but the passenger side airbags still packed a punch.

vicious525E

hardy har har, what a hatefull thread, but oh so funny.

RETed

If you're looking for the insurance discount, don't bother.
Most, if not all, insurance companies will only discount stock OEM airbag system.
This means if you manage to retrofit the airbag into the car, the insurance company will not give you the airbag discount.
CHECK with your insurance company first before trying to do this!
Insurance companies have a list of cars that come with stock OEM airbags - the FC "coupe" is not on the list.



-Ted

BlackShadow113

yah i dont think i would even do it for the discount, considering how hard it would be to install etc. racing seats and harnesses are better, and look nicer too

NZConvertible

Sorry, but knowing someone who's life was almost definitely saved by an airbag (in an accident that was not her fault), I think this attitude borders on lunacy. Airbags have proven themselves hundreds if not thousands of times around the world. People have climbed out of airbag-equipped cars after accidents that crash investigation teams have said would've caused far more serious injury or death if the airbags hadn't deployed.

Referring to them as an "explosive device" may be technically accurate, but it's also an emotive description that ignores the realities of a serious crash. The amount of energy released by these "explosive devices" is far less than the amount of energy absorbed by two vehicles hitting each other head-on, some of will be transfered to your comparatively weak body if you end up striking parts of the car or they strike you. It also implies that the airbag explodes outwards and hits you in the face, but anyone who's watched slow-motion crash test footage will know that in fact is it your head and torso that hits the fully inflated (and hence stationary) airbag, causing it to deflate and absorb a great amount of energy that might otherwise be absorbed by your body. The injuries that some people have suffered because of airbag deployment (facial bruising and abrasions, broken wrists, etc) are relatively minor compared to the damage caused by your body or head smashing into the steering wheel. I know what I'd rather be hit by.

Over the years there have been a number of cases of injuries being caused directly by airbags, but when looked at as a percentage of airbag deployments this number is so small it is almost irrelevant. The chances of an airbag reducing the injuries you receive in a crash are several orders of magnitude higher than the chance the airbag itself will injure you. Anybody who believes otherwise also probably also expects to win the lottery any time soon.

Airbags are not meant to be used instead of seatbelts, despite that fact that the US's idiotically low seatbelt usage has forced them into that role by default. Airbags are also known as a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS), i.e. supplemental to a properly worn seatbelt. There is overwhelming statistical evidence that when used together, seatbelts and airbags are far more effective than just one or the other. Note that US-market cars tend to use airbags that are larger and more powerful than those fitted to other countries, specifically because of the low seatbelt usage.

So let me get this straight. Let's say I'm driving my airbag-equipped car in a perfectly legal and safe manner, obeying the speed limit and staying entirely within my lane, etc. An oncoming car rounds a bend ahead of me going too fast for the conditions and misjudges the corner because he was changing a CD. He crosses the centreline and hits me head-on despite my efforts to avoid him. But my car has an airbag, so according to you I'm the moron who can't drive?! Get frickin' real man, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. This sort of accident happens every day. It doesn't matter if you've got the best-handling and best-braking car in the world, many accidents are unable to be avoided and completely beyond your control. There is no way you can predict what other people will do, and there isn't a single person here who can honestly claim that they are 100% attentive whilst driving and hence could avoid any situation that arose.

And that's relevant to this discussion how?

Having said all that, it is definitely not feasible to retrofit an airbag into a car that never had them. A lot of extra engineering has to go into a car so that airbags can work properly. For example all the vents at the back of the car that let the air from the HVAC system out have to be sized to let out the large amount of air that is rapidly displaced by the inflated airbag. If they're undersized (which they would be in a retrofit) the airbag won't inflate quickly enough to be useful. If you want an airbag-equipped car, you'll need to go and buy one.

Icemark

Sorry Jason, I can not agree with you on that.

Maybe if you have seen people killed and burned and broken bones by airbags you would think otherwise. I have seen people in simular accidents with identical cars badly hurt by air bags while the other person walked away with minor scratches and cuts. Perhaps this is because of the bigger brighter US spec bags. But I live in the US, so I have to suffer.

Sure I should play the lottery by your claimed odds, but that does not change that bags are disabled or reprogramed in all my vehicles.

If airbags are safer why are they not on race vehicles, where driver protection is at a premium??? Why are they not manditory on commercial trucks that have to drive millions of miles each year, which must have active collison avoidence systems, tracking systems, ABS systems.

Why did the US feds mandate a redesign of airbag systems on vehicles sold in the USA a couple years back??? Because the first long term data was coming back and people were being killed by airbags. People that would have walked away from minor (under 25MPH) accidents.

Why do many insurance companies no longer give discounts for cars with airbags?

But this is (I am sure) something that we might never see eye to eye on. I consider them for idiots to lame to use seat belts (much like the mouse belts found on the S5 coupes in the USA) as they were mandated here in the states because the National Traffic Safety and Highway administration identifed that people were not using their belts.

BlaCkPlaGUE

Good point icemark. But racing vehicles have like 4 point harness's and stuff, so im sure that would do a better job than a regular seatbelt in a car. Maybe we have airbags in daily drivers becuase car manufacturers don't want to burden people with a harness system? lol

NZConvertible

It's interesting that in the little dig I had around the internet I very little info on airbag deaths in NZ, Australia or the UK (mostly about babies in the front seat), but I found plenty in the US. In fact I fount an Aussie government site that said there has been no deaths caused by airbags in that country. It also had this to say about the US:

The U.S. situation

Airbags are mandatory in the USA because it was the one way to ensure that occupants who do not wear seatbelts have some form of protection in crashes. The US seatbelt wearing rate is only now approaching 70%, whereas Australia has been over 95% for many years.

To protect the unbelted, US airbags must fire earlier and with greater force than the systems seen in Australia. This means that small occupants and the elderly in the USA are disadvantaged and low speed crash cases are now emerging where the so called "aggressive" US airbags have caused fatal or serious injuries where these occupants have been sitting close to the airbag when it has deployed.

That is why the Australian Design Rule for crash protection requires the seatbelts to be fastened, allowing the vehicle manufacturers to design their airbag systems to be a supplement to the seatbelt and therefore "softer".

So I guess you guys are getting screwed by a small group of idiots.

Because the protection offered by the combination of a roll cage, 4/5/6-point harness and a crash helmet is far superior to that offered by an airbag. Remember the airbag is there to stop you impacting the steering sheel and/or dash, which is an unlikely scenario in all but the the most extreme race car crashes. You only have to look at some of the horrific-looking crashes that race drivers have walked away from to see how effective race car safety is.

Firstly because there are far more car accidents than truck accidents (and hence more people jumping up and down about it), and secondly because if a truck hits something that isn't fixed to the ground, like a much smaller vehicle, far more of the impact's energy is absorbed by the car. It's the rapid deceleration in a crash that's ultimately responsible for the damage to man and machine, and if you hit something at a given speed a car will decelerate far quicker than a truck simply because of the weight difference.

I wonder how many of those people were wearing seatbelts? Having seen footage of unbelted dummies hitting airbags I sure as hell wouldn't want to sit in front of one without a belt. So why isn't the US enforcing seatbelt laws? Enforcement is what has worked in so many other countries (including here).

Here's one point we totally agree on; anyone who drives unbelted is a complete moron.

jays83gsl

The point is:

WE live in the US. NZ, UK, Australia, their laws and statistics are fine. FOR THEM (YOU).

For US, though, we have OUR statistics. We have the way things happen here. We HAVE those 'aggressive' airbags. And that means that your points become INVALID in an arguement against us. Why should we care that you have better airbags? How does that affect people living where WE do?

Are you just saying we should all buy Australian cars so that we can have these 'safer' Australian airbags? NOT HAPPENING. If I wanted to import a car, well, it better have some serious RACING equipment in there. It certainly wouldn't be for lower impact airbags.

Here where WE live, airbags cause more harm than good. Therefore, we shouldn't have to listen to you go on and on and on about YOUR airbags.

Remember, we are not you.