Airbag sensitivity and off roading

So, I got to thinking after watching a meme the other day that showed a chev truck that had parked its self half way up a stop sign. As the driver backed off the post the truck bounced significantly and set off its airbags. He did not drop that far and it got me wondering, what is the line of banging around that sets off the air bags in our trucks?

I have read the manual and know that I can shut the airbags off; however, I know that in the real world I will forget to do this. So, what is the limit? Does anyone have experience or advice? I am planning some trips this summer out west to do some aggressive four wheeling in the Big Horns. Also planning a spring trip to Moab. Do all the people I am watching running Fins and Things shut off their air bags? My guess is no... the idea is to be slow and safe, but some significant bouncing can occur. What do you do?

 

It would be very difficult to duplicate the impact of a collision at speed or induce body damage quickly and forcefully enough into the crumple zones to trigger air bag deployment IMO

A rollover might do it, but I'm unable to answer - I know much of a vehicle's safety features are disabled when in 4LO, and obviously that also limits your speed, so under those conditions I'd say it's very, very unlikely.

 

No need to overthink it.

A) chevy's of certain model years have a known issue with premature airbag-ulations. If I remember right I think they even had to recall and reprogram the colorado's because of this. The jeep, ford, and toyota owners all thank gm for the easy joke material they provided.

B) go slow and try not to drop it onto big rocks.

 

Perfect! Thanks-didn't know about the Chev problems.

 

I believe the issues were specifically from Takata Airbags and not limited to GM. Toyota and Ford, among others, were also affected. There is/was a giant recall campaign on it.

 

https://youtu.be/lVa2waghbUE

Pretty sure their airbags went off.

 

His problem was he didn't have the skewp for those extra HPs.

 

That's an entirely different issue, altogether.











The Takata recall was because it was possible for some airbags to send shrapnel into the recipients face, if I remember correctly. The colorado (and silverado) had to have their sensitivity dialed down, more to do with the sensors than the airbags themselves.

https://jalopnik.com/chevrolet-will-fix-colorado-zr2s-to-prevent-airbags-fro-1830317992

 

To get an idea of your chances just look at the forum. All manner of issues no matter how small get posted. If airbags were a problem you would have definitely read about it already. There also would have been about 80000 replies wondering if 35s a six inch lift and a cmc will cause them to go off when you negotiate that speed bump at the mall.

 

lololol best answer possible.

Think of it another way, theres 69 million posts on here from people freaking out over a little bit of surface rust. But I dont think Ive ever seen one about air bags that didnt involve a serious traffic accident.

 

I believe you are correct

 

One reason I’ll never off road a newer vehicle is air bags. One of the guys has a newer Ranger. Dropped a front wheel in an erosion cut and got a face full of air bag
To literally add insult to injury it cost a small fortune to replace it.

He made the mistake of asking his insurance if they would cover it. Nope, and they told him that unless it was replaced they’d not insure the truck.

 

That's harsh; but, what is newer? You can go back 20+ years and Tacoma's have airbags... Clearly not a big problem with these trucks.

 

Until I bought my Tacoma my new vehicle was an ‘82 CJ8. Still too much stuff on it, but I really like the body style.

 

I suspect when an airbag goes off, there was a very good possibility it saved your face from some serious shit.
Now I suppose what your face is worth is subjective...

Pretty sure if I wheel hard enough to blow off an airbag, the cost of replacement will not be on the top of my mind (even if the airbag is, lol).
More like, 'So when do I get my Badge of Honor?'

But more likely, 'So when's that wrecker getting here to pull my shit out already?'

In either case? Airbags, schmair-bags.
I'll likely have bigger issues, like having to top up on buff-out sauce.

 

I've seen guys jumping dunes and not have airbags go off.

At least with the Toyotas, if an airbag goes off, it's not from a little tap on the bumper.

I've hit things, and been hit by things, and my airbag has never gone off.

 

Funny how you comment on an occurrence and folks tell it can’t happen. So I guess reality does exist for some.

 

If I’m not mistaken, ‘reality’ OP referenced and that we are debunking as a serious issue (airbag recalls aside) here was literally “a meme” off the internet.
Obviously unwarranted airbag deployment would be a serious issue. But the point was that this does not appear to be something that affects the Tacomas and/or the TW community enough complain about. The joke was that the bar for posting up complaints by the TW community is extremely low.

 

Side curtain airbags generally deploy during rollovers and even moderate side impacts. So if you roll your truck off road, no matter how slowly, they might go off. But generally the goal is not to roll the truck.

I recall reading on this forum where a guy had his side curtain airbags deploy during spirited driving around a curve, sliding off the road but not actually rolling or doing any damage. Made me glad at the time knowing my truck doesn't have them. At all other times though I feel bad knowing I'm at greater risk of death or serious injury in an actual accident.

If front air bags deploy, you were probably going fast enough to need them! A steel bumper might help prevent setting them off if you hit a deer. That's speculation though.

Also:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/set-off-curtain-airbags.335333/