Car Safety Tips: Why do car airbags not open in some accidents?

Car Safety Tips: If an accident happens while driving, you never know. Nowadays, many safety features are available in vehicles for the safety of the driver and passengers. Air bags are also one of them. Air bags are activated first in an accident and they have the ability to save the driver’s life even in a fatal accident. But, in many cases, it has also happened that the air bags did not open during the accident. Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry also died due to the air bags not opening. In such a situation, the question arises that why do the air bags not open?

An airbag is a bag made of nylon cloth. There is no need to press any button to open it at the time of an accident. Rather, it opens automatically. Airbags are fitted in the steering wheel, gate and dashboard of the car. It takes less than a second for the airbag to open. As soon as an accident occurs, the sensors in the car become active and send signals to open the airbag. As soon as the signal is received, the inflator present under the steering becomes active. The inflator contains sodium azide gas, which produces nitrogen through a chemical process. The airbag inflates only after filling it with nitrogen.

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why the airbags don’t open
There can be not one but many reasons for the airbag not opening during an accident. Technical flaws, lack of maintenance of the vehicle and the negligence of the car riders can be responsible for the airbag not opening. Today we will know the main reasons due to which the airbags did not open in most of the accidents.

seat belt is not on
If the passenger is not wearing a seat belt, the airbag will not open. Airbags are a part of the passive security system of the car, where the seat belt plays the main role. Airbags are activated after receiving a response from the seat belt. Cyrus Mistry was also not wearing a seat belt. Due to this, the airbag of his seat did not open and he died due to serious injuries.

Heavy protective grill
Many people get a protective grill installed to protect their vehicle from accidents. This is a heavy protective grill made of metal which is installed on the front part of the car. Due to this grill, the front sensor of the car does not work properly and is unable to send a signal to open the airbag. As a result, the airbag does not open.

Light quality
Many times when airbags have to be installed in the car, many people get low quality airbags installed in order to save money. These airbags work properly when installed but many times they fail later. The airbags installed in the car also need to be serviced. If you do not maintain the airbags of the car properly, then they can get damaged. Due to this negligence of yours, the airbags will not open when needed.

Tag: auto news, car accident