My friend got into a small car accident and her airbags went off. After that, i started to worry about what would happen if i got into a car accident without airbags? Is having no airbags something to worry about or am i over reacting?

 

First, dont get into accidents.

Second, wear your seat belt.

3rd, find something else to worry about.

 

Some airbags do more damage than help... if the crash is at a slow enough speed... those things aren't exactly the pillows they look like in slow motion video...

 

I crashed my 87 going 60mph into a van doing maybe 15-20 in the middle of the express way. Not so much as a scratch or bruise on me nor my passenger. We bot had our seatbelts on, and they did their job. My main concern was the 50+lb crankshaft from a nissan that was in the hatch flying into the front. Now THAT was scary.

 

+1.

the seatbelt is by far the best thing you can do. also the FC has similar crash ratings to the volvo's of the same time period, and we think of those as some kind of super safety machine. the difference is that mazda advertised a sports car.

second, if you were to go look at car literature from the 60's, their safety focus was on accident avoidance, so they tried to make the belt line low, and to minimize blind spots. most cars today have moved the pillars inline with the driver and made them huge so you can't see out. to the point where i've almost been in several accidents just because a pillar hides the other car. really GOOD cars can pass modern crash testing WHILE still giving the drive visibility. the volvo's are really good, the toyotas are really bad.... and VW advertises the jetta crashing into a wall, which if thats what its best at, it must suck the other 100% of the time

3rd yes. you're more likely to die of a heart attack than a car accident, but are you worried about that?

 

No. If this worries you, you have the wrong car.

 

Alot of sport cars in the 80's didn't have airbags. Hell it wasn't till the mid 90's that most manufactures where told they had to put them in cars. My 1988 Nissan 300zx i had didn't have any airbags.

 

I was involved in a car crash with a 1992 chevy cavalier. It had no airbags.

Long story short, a truck towing a trailer pulled out in front of me (I was going 50mph). No time to stop, nowhere to swerve, so I let go of the wheel (you don't want to hold it or tense up) and let inertia do its duty (while trying to brake as much as possible before impact).

I was wearing my seatbelt. My face came so... so close to the steering wheel. Although I know modern vehicles have a seatbelt retractor that will pull you back from the wheel, it's only a short distance at best. If that cavalier had an airbag and had it deployed, I'd be blind right now. There's no doubt it would have driven my glasses into my eyes.

I'm not one to poo all over technology, but sometimes simple is better.

There is no substitute for driving safely. Thinking back at that accident, I could have avoided it. The light had just turned green, and both the left and right lanes were full of traffic. The center lane was clear, and the truck was pulling out from a gas station just past the intersection. Had I slowed down instead of flying past all those cars, that cavalier would still be driving around.

Every accident can be avoided, just be more careful.

 

If you are going to worry about getting in an accident every time you get in a car then you may want to sell the car and take the bus.
Quit psyching yourself out and get out and have fun Damn it!,,even if it tries to kill you!

 

thanks for the info, im not too worried, it was just that idk what would happen if i got in an accident without airbags.

 

You won't have burns on your hands and face. Your car will cost less to repair, in the unlikely event that an accident serious enough to deploy airbags left a 20+ year old car repairable.

Airbags became required mostly because Americans refused to adopt seatbelt use, so passive safety devices were mandated. But without seatbelts, airbags are of limited effectiveness anyway, and now, most drivers in the US, as elsewhere, wear their belts.

 

i feel safer in the 7 then my motorcycle. lol

 

Real cars don't have airbags!

 

you are pretty much garunteed to end up with a broken nose with an airbag. if all fcs had airbags id just be worried about having to remove it to fit a good steering wheel. hate dealing with them at work they put the s@$%! up me.

 

To the OP, in a way I am glad that you are worrying about security. You better think about yours and others safety each time you take the steering wheel, than thinking you are superman driving his batmobile like a goddamn F1 pilot...

Someone can drive fast, drive hardcore with no barriers, but on well taught/ planned circumstances, as far as possible. I've had a lot of accident and all of them could have been avoided. I've learned the hard way that politeness and courtesy is mandatory while driving on a public road, it could have saved few of my cars. I've never been saved by airbags tho.

 

i dont think all accidents are avoidable. a guy ran a red light and nailed me and i even waited for all the cars i could see come to a stop. now im super cautious about being the first car at a light.

 

 

if our cars had 1st gen air bags if the wreck didnt kill you the air bag would. not sure if any mid 80s cars had air bags.

 

Airbags in the 80s/90s is not the same as today. so even if the FC has Airbags, I don't think I would trust it much ... early computers were not advance like today and the force/timing might be too much/too late. there was a report on airbags a year or 2 ago it saids that early airbags actually killed more people than saving them.

My bro crashed his Altima SE-R 4 yrs ago, got it new as a 2005 model(obviously)

he was being a moron I told him the tires are kinda bald don't go 2f2f but he did. slip and crash into the guardrails. airbags deployed and he said it happened so fast but he didn't feel much in the car. in the car it just felt like a slight bump, he came out clean, no bruises, nothing. thumbs up to Nissan, that car was build like a tank. but the front of the car was destroyed and insurance totaled it. (cost over 18K to repair, so insurance was like screw it)

Most accidents can be avoided, just wear your seat belts at all times and be careful.

some pics for you guys to see. sad, that car was actually quite good.

 

i'm going to sell my car now, i didn't even know it didn't have an airbag!

 

screw air bags. i was rear ended at about 45mph (i was at a stand still), if i had air bags, all that would have accomplished would be a broken nose. and as some one else mentioned earlier, shards of my glasses impaled into my head.

 

LoLLL

 

You can go all your life being cautious, trying to avoid a crash and die on the ******* (1000 ways to die) LMAO!!

 

Hello from 1st Gen land. None of our FBs have airbags and no one seems to worry about it.

 

get a cage and harness, then always drive with a helmet on if you're worried about your face getting damaged