Ferrari Mailing List: Urgent Takata Airbag Recall

[Doug & Terri (dnt]

Good points Charles

And as a general rule – air bags only will fire off if the vehicle exceeds a certain speed – something like 12 to 18 mph.  And what triggers the SRS (supplementary restraint system)?  Why Newton of course – a steel ball about the size of a pin-ball held aft of contract points by a magnet.  Smack something hard enough and the pinball breaks the magnetic forces holding it and moves forward making contact to complete the deployment circuit and a nano second later the party begins.

 

AND as a general rule – the air bag will NOT deploy in a rear end accident unless the front of the car is driven into an object greater than above.  In other words – backing into Aunt Connie’s brick mail box shouldn’t set the system in motion.

 

Roll overs are famous for NOT deploying air bags.  No seat belt on?  Door opens and you half way eject and the car rolls over and shuts the door on you?  Bad for morale.  Real case with a pretty high school cheer leader in her VW bug who actually lived - - for a while.

 

After passenger seat deployment many cars require windshild replacement.  Why?  Because the passenger side air bag shoots upwards providing the airbag “base.”  Steering wheel provides the base for the driver.

 

Wear your seat belts.

 

In the mid-fifties, while Iacocca was Ford VP or something like that, he was chastised by marketing for pushing safety.  Ford marketing felt that emphasized that the car was a dangerous thing.  Nevertheless – in the next decade, The Deuce went to war with Ferrari and skirted the Big Threes tacit agreement NOT to race cars for the same reason.  His answer?  Hey, that was the Euro branch of Ford, we gots nothing to do with them, except looking at the bottom line.  Go Go Henry.

 

Onward

DOUG