BROWSE BY BRAND :
Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
Opening cars that have side impact airbags has created a lot of concern over the years. When a manufacturer introduces or changes new items, devices, or makes improvements in a car, those changes should be examined to see how the changes would affect the opening procedure and your safety. Unfortunately, rumors get started or facts get exaggerated that may cause chaos. There has been a rumor that been circulating for years that a person of authority (police officer, locksmith, auto technician, repossessor, etc) was killed unlocking a car with a Slim Jim. As the story goes, the person inserted a Slim Jim type tool into the door cavity and set off the airbag. The force of the airbag somehow forced the Slim Jim tool through the bottom of the person’s chin, killing him.
We all have a responsibility to gain information and to pass information on to each other. The operative word here is information, not rumor.
We must first realize that airbag technology and the vehicles that they are equipped in is constantly changing and evolving. It is difficult to get information direct from the manufactures in regards to the effects on car opening. In regards to opening vehicles, we must first understand the different types of airbags on the market.
The only airbags we are discussing today are the “Side Impact Airbag System” or SIPS. SIPS are designed to deploy in the event of a side impact collision. As there are millions of vehicles on the road across multiple manufacturing decades, it is important to remember not all vehicles that have airbags are equipped with SIPS. Some vehicles has SIPS standard, others have it options, and in many models it was never available. SIPS may be on the driver’s door and optional on the passenger and/or rear doors or some type of combination of doors.
The actually airbag is usually located in either the door cavity or the seat frame. The “airbag sensor” is activated in the event of a collision and signals the airbag to deploy. The sensor is sometimes located in the door cavity and can be located in other areas of the vehicle, such as the pillar, seat frame, or carriage frame.
From the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (reference)
ADVISORY
SLIM JIM INCIDENTS UNFOUNDED
Over the past several months, a number of bulletins and stories have been circulating throughout the law enforcement and emergency services community about side impact airbag deployments resulting from the use of a slim jim (a metal device which can be slipped in between the window and molding of many car windows to unlock the door). These bulletins incorrectly claim that an law enforcement officer or firefighter, using a slim jim, was injured or killed while attempting to open a locked driver’s door of a vehicle equipped with side impact air bags. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has researched these claims and has discussed this issue with manufacturers of vehicles equipped with side impact air bags. NHTSA has been unable to verify that any incidents of the types described have occurred. Additionally, NHTSA contacted the manufacturers of vehicles equipped with side impact air bags, who categorically state that it is impossible to deploy the side impact air bags by using a slim jim from the outside of their vehicles.
While we always recommend to Look, Listen, and Feel in any technical car opening situation, performing car opening techniques on vehicles with SIPS should not be much different from vehicles without SIPS.
