I said BS because the deployment of airbags has nothing to do with seatbelt use.
This has been discussed extensively on other sites & here is a little info:
Sabbasaun
"Yeah this has been discuseed before and it's disturbing how owners of other vehicles will use this picture to give Hyundai such a bad name just to make their cars look better. They won't even listen to the facts of what happened, they'll just blindly say "Hyundai builds unsafe cars", despite the many awards they have won in recent years to show otherwise. That being said, the safety systems in vehciles today are very comlex.
Anyways I'll try to shed some light on what happend here. You can deduce certain things from the many photo's of this crash. Firstly something hit the steering
wheel. That's a given. Either the drivers head or chest or arms. Secondly, the cabin is mostly in tact. This is a good thing as it means the steering column did not get pushed into the driver but that something hit the steering
wheel. I'm actually very impressed with this result. Now these two factors alone points to the driver NOT wearing a seatbelt. Thirdly, most SRS systems have a sensor to indicate when someone is sitting in the seats. It will arm the airbags if someone is sitting in the seat or deactivate when it senese that no one or not enough weight is on the seat (example, when a small child or animal is on the seat). In this scenario, it is very possible that as the accident was happening the driver may have been thrust forward taking any weight off of the occupant sensor thus de-arming the airbag. These things together is what makes many modern SRS systems. An airbag deploying if the occupant is not wearing a seat belt could cause more harm than good in such a scenario. Keep in mind, Airbags are categorized as supplemental restraint systems (SRS) and most effective when used in conjuction with a safety belt. Lastly, I was sent an email from someone in Korea who knows the occupant and they confirmed that the driver was not wearing a belt... this last bit of info reinforces points 1, 2, and 3 above.
hth"
Tufast
Quote:
Originally Posted by DayDreamer
Actually, and I'm not sure about non-US models, but the passenger seat is the only seat cushion that has an occupant detection sensor. Driver's seats do not.
"I wasn't going to address this, but I fear I have to...lol
Correct, there is a PPD (passenger's presence detection) sensor in the passenger's side seat bottom. It is usually in the form of a bladder that registers if there is an adult, someone of 85lbs or more, sitting in the passenger's seat upright & feet forward. This sensor will register the occupant & cut the indicator lamp in the center of the dash off that states passengers airbag not active. In doing so it activates the passengers side airbag that works in conjuction with the seat belt restraint system to save lives.
The driver's side airbag always deploys if the computer feels after taking into account numerous variables that the airbag deployment will assist in safety. What you have to realize is these variables include a host of information that account for angle of impact, speed, change in direction, momentum, satellite sensor locations, seat belt activation, etc. We do not know what the air bag control module was tabulating upon impact. The fact that it looks like the driver was not wearing a seat belt based of the information that sabbasaun provided, which I agree with, should be enough in itself for the airbag not to deploy, especially at low speeds.
I know that the car looked mangled, but keep in mind that cars designed today with crumple zones are done so with the safety of the passengers in mind. The outside of a modern day car may look like hell after an accident, even one at low speeds (i.e 30mph), but what counts is what the passengers compartment looks like. The car can be replaced, but human life can not."
that is very alarming
)
