fox airbags...still safe?

[carbed 85 gt]

Hey all a friend of mine was removing his steering wheel out of his air bagged mustang and putting in a afternarket wheel. He is mainly doing it for looks but also questions how effective these still are.

I got to thinking about that my self, these airbags are a first generation of airbag systems for ford and had a ot of early electronics associated with them. So now years later are they effective? How about the chemicals that are the charge, how long are they good for. How about the sensors I seen a few foxes with the airbag light on and the audible alarm chiming too. I imagine it would be hard to get new parts for these right.

So anyone who has hda a wreck in one did the bags go off like they should?

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

I have worked at my JY for almost 11 years. I have been around it for almost 18 years.

I buy wrecked cars for parts only. You would be surprised how many newer 06, 07, 08 cars we get in that are wrecked in the front and the air bags didn't even go off. I can always understand why 90-04 stuff doesn't deploy. More than likely those cars have already been wrecked and repaired before, and the air bag system wasn't repaired properly.

I wouldn't worry about removing the bag. Earlier fox bodies didn't have them. I wouldn't worry about keeping the bag either. Who knows if it will still work after all these years, but how about you don't find out.

 

[impulse001]

I have worked at my JY for almost 11 years. I have been around it for almost 18 years.

I buy wrecked cars for parts only. You would be surprised how many newer 06, 07, 08 cars we get in that are wrecked in the front and the air bags didn't even go off. I can always understand why 90-04 stuff doesn't deploy. More than likely those cars have already been wrecked and repaired before, and the air bag system wasn't repaired properly.

I wouldn't worry about removing the bag. Earlier fox bodies didn't have them. I wouldn't worry about keeping the bag either. Who knows if it will still work after all these years, but how about you don't find out.

I agree, I was in 2 pretty serious accidents with my 2004 Nissan Sentra (One of which the axel snapped) and neither time did the air bag go off, I wonder if it even works.. haha

 

[BK_CAULEY]

i got in an accident and mine went off. and slow95gt damn near cut his car in half and his didnt deploy so i guess its hit or miss.

 

[cervinistang]

i got no airbags, unreliable seat belt, a glass roof and a gas tank thats way to close to the rear bumper.... hell foxes arnt very safe cars.

 

[RYC CUKR]

I got tboned, in my work truck, by a guy in an 02 S-10. He was doing probably around 35 mph and his airbags didn't go off.

 

[1.8kmint]

i got no airbags, unreliable seat belt, a glass roof and a gas tank thats way to close to the rear bumper.... hell foxes arnt very safe cars.

+1 I've heard the gas tank problem has always been a problem with mustangs. If you search it you can find some pretty good horror stories about people being rear-ended and the doors being jammed closed while they burned alive in their cars... Pretty scary to think about...

 

[DigitalGhost]

I was in an accident 2 weeks ago and ended up rear-ending the car in front of me while I was doing about 40mph. My airbag deployed just fine.

 

[87foxstang]

+1 I've heard the gas tank problem has always been a problem with mustangs. If you search it you can find some pretty good horror stories about people being rear-ended and the doors being jammed closed while they burned alive in their cars... Pretty scary to think about...

holy crap that is scary

 

[bryce93lx]

The key to making it pop is hitting something with some conviction i tagged a tree at about 65 and it popped nicely

 

[Prime Lord]

Who is saying foxes aren't safe? They're built like a TANK! I T-Boned a guy (his fault for cutting me off) going about 50MPH in my old '89. No Airbag, but it was the same as any other mustang accident. All I heard was "THUD" and I got out of the car and yelled at the guy.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

+1 I've heard the gas tank problem has always been a problem with mustangs. If you search it you can find some pretty good horror stories about people being rear-ended and the doors being jammed closed while they burned alive in their cars... Pretty scary to think about...

Well this is partially true. It can happen with stangs, but this was more common with Pinto's. It is still currently true with Crown Victorias. I have been underneath Crown Vic's and you should see the poor set up. The gas tank is further forward than the Mustang, but the rear end is inches away. Ford put these extremely thick plastic guards on the rear and that is supposed to stop it from being pushed into the gas tank when impacted in the rear. It didn't really work, but it is supposed to help.

 

[impulse001]

+1 I've heard the gas tank problem has always been a problem with mustangs. If you search it you can find some pretty good horror stories about people being rear-ended and the doors being jammed closed while they burned alive in their cars... Pretty scary to think about...

http://www.safetyforum.com/fordmustang/

Airbag's are the least of your worries.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

That site above is pretty scary stuff, but what are we gonna do? We can't all sell out Mustangs because of this. Of all the Mustangs that have come into the yard here, some being hit in the rear....none of them were ever on fire. Convertible doors are harder to open than coupes because a major structure peice is gone from the car....the roof. Most of the conv doors I was unable to open. The quarter pushes into the the inner door structure jamming it.

 

[NIKwoaC]

You always hear the stories of gruesome car accident deaths but what you don't realize is how very small a fraction they take of the total deaths due to car accidents. I read somewhere in that article that 200 burn deaths resulted from design flaws in the Mustang. Now look up how many people have been killed in Mustang car crashes within the same time frame, overall. I'd be willing to bet the deaths due to burning are a very small, single digit percentage.

It sounds like the person who wrote that article is a Camaro person.

 

[cervinistang]

yeah.. ford hater. all cars have their flaws but dont get picked on nearly as much as the big players.

 

[LiquidGT]

I always thought about removing the air bag wheel myself because its first gen and probably wont work. Then I had a thought, a higher power could deploy it if need be.

If I could build my dream fox I'd get one of those 20gal fuel safe fuel cells for extra capacity and safety.

 

[matador91]

screw airbags get a new steering wheel!!!!!!!

 

[ryan218]

+1 I've heard the gas tank problem has always been a problem with mustangs. If you search it you can find some pretty good horror stories about people being rear-ended and the doors being jammed closed while they burned alive in their cars... Pretty scary to think about...

no worries for me...if i ever got hit and it was on fire first thing im doing is eaching for my knife and cutting the top to pieces to get out...sorry but after a car is on fire the last thing im going to be worried about it ****ing it up more.

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

I hit the gut in my vert goin about 60-65 he was stopped, so it was a dead blow, and I had to kick my door out, and when it did you could feel the car start bending over to the drivers side, we let the top down and the car twisted even more to the left all in all the pass side door was about 3" off and both of the 1/4's bent so much that the decklid wouldnt open, and I hit the guy in the front... the airbag didnt go off, I didnt wear my seatbelt and I hit the steering wheel hard and bent it with my face, and walked away (crying lol) but I was very fortunate..... now I got to fix rpm182000's car that he wrecked so I can drive it when I get my license back lol

yeah mustangs suck as far as safety goes, but hey they are fast and fun, just open it up on old back roads....