Kindly explain how a person will come in contact with the airbag (with the possible exception of the head) if the shoulder harness immediately locks, in the event of a suitiable deceleration force, and prevents the upper body from moving forward?

I do agree that the airbag, if it deploys properly, may stop the forward motion of the head, thereby preventing a neck injury, however, I fail to see how the bag can prevent breaking of a clavicle, if the majority of the restraint is provided by the shoulder harness.

Never having had the opportunity to personally experience an airbag deployment, I have to admit I don't have first-hand knowledge of this. However, I'm going by what my wife experienced, and by what another friend experienced in an accident w/o an airbag. So here is how I understand it.

The airbag is designed to fill the space between the occupant and the dash / steering wheel instantly. My wife said it was the airbag that stopped her going forward, not the seatbelt. The airbag completely filled the driver's space and actually pushed her against the seat back. It seems the airbag deployed faster than the seatbelt restrained her. The rash she got from the seatbelt came for the side-to-side motion as the seatbelt prevented her from hitting either the door or flopping onto the passenger side.

The friend I was mentioning was stopped when he was rear-ended by a car going over 50 MPH. His car then hit the one in front of him. Since he had no airbag, the seatbelt restrained him as he went forward, but it broke his collarbone and several of his ribs. (I would expect the same would have happened to my wife w/o the airbag). He doesn't remember, but the hospital said he also hit his head on the steering wheel. His right shoulder and arm went forward, which permitted him to slide out of the three-point seat belt a little. As a result, his upper body and neck flexed enought for his head to go forward and hit the wheel. No matter how you slice it, though, it was a hell of a lot better than having him fly through the wind screen.

__________________
Casey Cooper
"From a long line of Mercedes ownership"

'86 300SDL 250K miles (Gone, but not forgotten); best diesel I have ever driven, too bad about the Achilles heel.

'81 240D 370K miles (Sold to my brother after 9 years and 150K miles of reliable driving!)

[Five other Mercedes in family clipped for less length.]

Yes, that is rather interesting. I can see the airbag preventing injuries created by the shoulder belt, in a serious collision, if it deploys that fast.
Maybe there is some value to the damn things after all.

Brian, Brian, Brian.....You are sooooo wrong about the percived value of airbags. Unfortunately you may be putting on your idealogic hat rather than your scince hat

In a accident, there are multiple crashes between all bodies all occuring within a few milliseconds.

What hurts you... is the crash vehicle between you and your vehicle. You will need full protection to overcome this. Selt Belt alone does not offer you full protection. Seat belt only restrain the middle section of your body. The upper and the lower sections are free to go anywhere inertia forces them to go. Most passenger car belts are 3 point restain which offers less restrain than the 4 point restain found in racing cars. So you see your belt is not as safe/restraining as you think. You are still thrown like a rag doll with a 3-pt seat belt. The airbags fill that critical space that protect the critical organs, Yes, airbags deploy with a bang but I rather sustain bruishes and live to tell about it than lie somewhere brain dead.

A full protection system must include the following:
1.) A effective structural cage (the most important!!!)
2.) A 4-pt seatbelt and structural seat (hold you in place)
3.) A system of airbags ( to fill the void if every other thing fails)
So Brian, to be safe you need and must have all 3 systems, not just half of a system.

Going to the original post.. retrofitting sidebags/designing your own side airbags is "bad" ideas, expensive and unreliable.

If you are truely concern about your wife's safety, I will sell the car and add some money to it and buy a late 98+ model with engineered side airbags.

Side airbags would be nice I would pay extra for side airbags. I rather have my head land on an airbag then smack the wheel.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I believe that the new generation of side air bags are quite a bit different than the old generation. I think only the last year or so have they provided head protection. I don't think the ones in my 98 provide any head protection. I believe it is the head protection of the newer side air bags that has yielded the superior side crash test results of some of the 2004 and 2005 cars.

As far as the 15 year life of an airbag, I doubt that the bag would disintegrate from age. The life spec is more likely a product liabilty concern, that there could be some problem causing the bag to not inflate at an extended service age. So they need to draw the line somewhere. I certainly would never disconnect an airbag just because it became 16 years old. There are probably some statistics somewhere on failure rates at certain ages and I would guess they are quite low.

Mike

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

First off, adding an airbag is technically impossible. The bags and belt tensioners are a system and additional items can't be just scabbed on like extra driving lights.

As to the crash safety of the 126, it is an old car and is many generations removed from modern passenger protection. After all, it's more than just road hugging weight. A couple of years back, I looked (on-scene) at a very nice black '89 560SEL that failed to yield to the ambulance that hit it on the left a-pillar at 25mph. The car was so crushed that the firemen had to cut the roof off to extract the driver.

My own "little" 3500 lb W203 C320 has eight airbags and up until the W211 was introduced provided the best crash protection of all MB's up to that point. According to an MB document, BTW. That's what I want when I tangle with another car.

__________________
Roger E.

<>

Mercedes side bags are in the door above the elbow rest and they provide zero head protection. Curtain bags blow out of the area above the doors, extending down about a foot and deflate slowly, providing head protection in a side impact. The bag extends from just ahead of the A-post to behind the rear door. Some cars have side bags in the side of the front seats, deploying forward and up.

I believe the '05 Porsche Boxster has a side bag that extends high enough up the side window (it's a convertible, remember) to provide head protection. Most likely not if the window's down, I would think.

The new SL now has a knee bag for the driver to prevent submarining under the belt. Don't know about the passenger side. I think I read someplace that Lexus is introducing seatback bags for rear passengers.

I sometimes wonder if somehow they all deployed at once if all the windows would blow out. Goodbye, eardrums, perhaps.

My W203 C320 has door bags, curtain bags and belt tensioners (a one time deal, BTW) but the g-sensors prevent them all from deploying at at once.

My manual says this: "The service life of the air bags extends to the date indicated on the label located on the driver side door latch post. To provide continued reliability after that date, they should be inspected by an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer at that time and replaced when necessary."
MP

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra