SRS Airbags... how long do they last?

[Pepscobra]

Was cleaning the wife's 2001 VW Beetle the other day.

I hadn't noticed it before, but its got airbags everywhere; six that I could find easily.

Also got me wondering... the car is now over 13 years old... how long do airbags last in their dormant state? Do they need to be serviced/inspected after a certain period of time?

What was the first Falcon to have an airbag?
It was the EF if I'm not mistaken?
That was back in 1994, which means those airbags are now 20 years old... will they still work properly after all this time?

[Franco Cozzo]

They will still work, the old school airbags are triggered with a little ball which pushes on a contact to set off the airbag when you have an accident if there is enough force.

More modern cars have a few sensors which all have to be triggered for airbag deployment, and these can do a "half deployment" rather then full as well, it all depends on a calculation of how fast the car was going and the sensors triggered off etc.

If you have an SRS light pop up on your cluster then I would be worried.

The only things I've seen fail in an SRS system are the clock springs in the steering wheel and they always bring up a code.

[kempy311]

I think if you read your service book it tells you to change them after 10 years not that anyone would.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by kempy311

I think if you read your service book it tells you to change them after 10 years not that anyone would.

Given the price for the airbags such as the steering wheel and dash mounted ones from the spare parts division it would be worth more than the car after 10 years, a bit prohibitive.

I'm guessing that would be in there to cover their *** in the case that they didn't deploy in an accident and someone died as a result.

[danzvtil]

They are designed to last for "the life of the vehicle" whatever that is with an inspection at 10 Years, or at least that was the line when they first became available, I have NEVER heard of anyone getting an airbag module inspected at 10 years of age. I guess the technology has proven reliable.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by kempy311

I think if you read your service book it tells you to change them after 10 years not that anyone would.

It says that they should be inspected. This would be done whilst you get it serviced. I have no idea though, how they would "inspect" the airbag.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by superfly

It says that they should be inspected. This would be done whilst you get it serviced. I have no idea though, how they would "inspect" the airbag.

Plug in scan tool, run scan, no codes, done.

You wouldn't pull it off the steering wheel and look at it lol.

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Plug in scan tool, run scan, no codes, done.

Surely this gets done at every service, so then why the 10 year comment in the manual?

[Franco Cozzo]

When I was working at a dealership we didnt scan cars unless they had something wrong with them to give us a guide on where to look.

Customer comes in with a complaint, car isnt working properly, scan it, write down codes, clear codes, scan car again to see what comes back.

[Nikked]

SRS systems are setup so that any little fault brings on a light. Can't even take a seat out of some cars without needing a code cleared...

[BadMax]

If the SRS light isn't staying on, you don't have to concern yourself. We are seeing early commodores such VX's coming in with broken clock springs, probably more a design fault than anything.

[Nikked]

Same problem plagues hiluxes from 2005 onwards...recently recalled...

[superfly]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

When I was working at a dealership we didnt scan cars unless they had something wrong with them to give us a guide on where to look.

Customer comes in with a complaint, car isnt working properly, scan it, write down codes, clear codes, scan car again to see what comes back.

Thanks for the info. I just assumed it was done each time.

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Same problem plagues hiluxes from 2005 onwards...recently recalled...

Yaris and Corolla also - the latter not recalled however?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Nikked

SRS systems are setup so that any little fault brings on a light. Can't even take a seat out of some cars without needing a code cleared...

Yeah that seat problem is with every car these days, if you want to remove a seat, disconnect the negative terminal on the battery and only put it back on when the seat is connected and put back in properly, or you'll get an SRS light and it will stay on the moment you go to ignition.

Also the connectors are always a pain in the *** to remove, they're always this odd clip in mechanism, many an apprentice have broken them.

Used to cost us $300 per car to get the Mercedes Sprinter SRS light cleared by the dealership, we kept telling them to buy a scan tool but they kept complaining about having to spend around 10G for one.

$300 x 100 Mercedes Sprinters we did with the SRS lights which needed clearing - $30K.

Accounting FAIL.

They ended up buying one after the first 100 cars we did.

[Rob's Red GT]

Has anyone heard of one going off for no reason such as a severe bump/pothole or extreme breaking? I get a little concerned occasionally when I look down at the steering wheel.

[Franco Cozzo]

The only type that would ever be possible on would be the old type ones with the ball which pushes into the contact but it would have to be something severe, as in roll the car.

There was someone on Fordmods who had their airbags go off while they were driving in their E series but they had the SRS light on their dash for a while so there was some fault there for it to happen.

[XR Martin]

Doing stuff like this can occasionally set them off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpL4VwhYSE8

[Rob's Red GT]

Damn it, I got a blower on my GT, I'll be playing like that for sure.