rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

You guys trying to justify not having airbags over having them is like trying to justify not wearing a seat belt. Cars with airbags are safer than cars without them in a wreck. CAN you be injured by an airbag? Sure you can. It's supposed to feel something like Mike Tyson punching you in the face. That wouldn't feel as bad as your face hitting the steering wheel though. Keep in mind that the farther back you sit the less likely you are to be hit by an airbag if it deploys.

Airbag systems of that era weren't the smartest. The ones today are far and away better so the argument about having an airbag of that era vs not having one has more weight but you'd be nuts to drive a modern car without one. It would be illegal too.

The 2nd gen didn't have airbags as far as I know. Definitely not up through 1990. The 3rd gen had a driver's side bag until '95 when a passenger side bag was added.

A big problem that many RX-7 owners have is that they think lighter is better at any price. Many people take the bracing out from under the dash and the heavy fiberglass bumper out from the front of the car. Some for weight and others so they can fit their precious little intercooler piping.

Several years ago we had a member here named Guitarjunkie. Some of you may remember him. He had a 3rd gen. He changed the steering wheel which removed the airbag. He removed the front bumper due to weight. He took everything he could off of the car. He even drove without a seatbelt on because he was too lazy to bolt it back in after having the seat out. He died in a head on collision on a mountain road where he was driving like many RX-7 drivers do. He was speeding and passing cars and lost control. He went head on into a car in the oncoming lane. The girl in the other car was hospitalized for a long time and she was even in a car that had all safety devices and an airbag in place and working. They saved her life. Dave simple killed himself through his decisions. He was a friend but let's face it, he had it coming. I know some will say he died because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I don't think the seatbelt would have been enough to save him. The girl was in a safer car with everything working and she was pretty messed up. She had to relearn how to walk! If everything would have been in place working on his car, he may still be here today. An airbag isn't a guarantee but it does increase your odds.

Am I worried about my FC not having an airbag? No. Am I worried that I may get into a wreck? A bit but that can happen in any other car. I drive that car knowing that it met the safety standards of the day and that as time goes on those standards keep improving. I'm definitely safer in my current era car than that one for a number of reasons. Can something bad happen? Sure it can. Everyday we take risks. We need to be aware of those risks though. Usually you are fine. Sometimes you aren't. Dave (guitarjunkie) increased the amount of risk he was willing to take and it killed him and nearly killed an innocent girl too.

GregW

wua, wua, wua, Debbie downer says -

Rx-7fetish

Look, just wear your seatbelt and drive civilized on public roads and you will be fine. I'm not a big fan of airbags for reasons completely out of the norm. Yes they save lives, when they work. I slid on a patch of ice into a tree stump head on in my Saturn and the bag didn't deploy, that sucked. Second which was kinda funny I might add, my buddy wrecked his ford probe. Airbag didn't deploy. He got the car home on a trailer and the next day we went to see if it would still start. He sat in it, turned the key, it fired up, about 5-10 seconds later !*POOF*! Air bag goes off in his face. Funniest thing I have seen in my life. Seatbelt, proper distance from the wheel and don't screw around with legally needed safety features like bumpers and braces, and your good. My parents and grandparents wrecked plenty of cars before airbags came around and they are just fine and its not like they were driving slower back then so I'm not worried.

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

Reality sucks. Especially when stupidity is the standard.

rotarygod

iTrader: (1)

That is very dangerous logic. How many people died in wrecks because those cars weren't as safe?

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

lots! accidents used to be fatal before the seat belt, and other things like the crumple zone, and collapsable steering column.

in the 50's people used to die, read anything from the period, and someone dies in a car accident.

contrast that to now, and i don't know ANYONE who died in a car accident, guitarjunkie is the closest, and i never met him.

i know plenty of people who have crashed cars badly though, me included. shoot i've been roadracing since 2003, and i've seen some really horrible wrecks, and more people have died from old age.

by far though the best thing you can do is the seat belt.

i guess the airbag helps too, but if you've ever seen an airbag deploy its scary. it is literally a bomb. i do know people that have broken faces and arms from the airbag deployment. so not having a 90's airbag is ok....

oh and BTW the 1990-91 convertibles had a drivers airbag

hvaltierra

iTrader: (2)

My first car was an 88 gxl i got hit on the front drivers side from the front by a ups van my car was totaled and i walked away from the crash with a bruised shoulder from the seat belt. Those seat belts in the fc work great dont worry about not having air bags if your going to be worrying about crashing and not having airbags from now on get rid of your car and go buy a tank. ive also been side swiped by a maxima when i was on my harley. hey you know what i get hit alot. wtf

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

The motorcycle forum I'm on has a rider down section and they do a lot of memorial rides. Stop being a *****.

lunardeathgod

Today I learned that 2nd gen drivers think safety features (other than seat belts) are for pussies lol

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

sure they work, but not a whole lot better than the seat belt itself does. i would call them supplementals for IF you AREN'T wearing your seat belt or the belt itself happens to fail.

picture you rearend someone at 50mph, will your seatbelt allow you to hit the steering column or knees jam into the kick panel? they should NOT. with an airbag now you have something soft to bounce off of while travelling at 50mph. both have negatives, the same negatives of hitting something relatively soft at 50 mph, either will hurt you in any event if you aren't lucky, they BOTH will save you with or without the other functioning but personally i would rather not be bouncing around inside a rolling vehicle without a belt on... but if you think the airbag itself will save you, even with the seatbelt on, best of luck with that.

i'll take my chances without an exploding device in my face but i wouldn't yank one out of a new car either if that tells you anything. point is, the title of the thread is based on ignorance.

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

No, you learned that worrying about not having safety features that were not factory offered makes you a *****. IIRC the FC had a 4 star crash test rating from the factory.

rxmiles

iTrader: (11)

Airbags are just an excuse to drive poorly. As my dad always says "A 8 inch knife bolted to your steering wheel is much better than an airbag" anyways just drive safe. I crashed my much loved VW bug into a light pole and ruined the car, I was uninjured I should also mention that I had no seat belt on at the time, I was lucky.

StevenL5975

Over here you get a nice ticket when you re not wearing seatbelts.
Its really expensive. Same goes for using the phone while driving.
So moral of the story, most people use the belts, but there are still lots of people who use the phone behind the wheel.

Mainly people with big suvs or expensive benz or bimmers can be seen using the phone.
I dont get it why I happen to see mainly those people with the phone but I think that it has to do something with social status.
They probably think that this rule does not apply to them.

Another problem is smoking behind the wheel, over here smoking in public is forbidden since 2 years or so, now people start smoking more often in cars.
So one hand at the wheel another one holds the cig, with window opened a few cm. Thats a common view these days over here.

As for the FC not having an airbag, I dont really care about that. I try to avoid accidents. I really feel safe in the FC. I think it is a well build and safe sports car.
I have around 25 km to work, one 10 km section consists of a really dangerous mountain like pass.
(Its not really a mountain pass, its a narrow twisted road with steep slope on one side and trees on both sides, so it looks kinda like a touge it has a few hairpins too)
This road has a high speedlimit (90 kmh) and people tend to drive very fast on this road. I drive this road everyday, winter summer, rain, snow, ice etc...

This road really is dangerous, when it rains, you can tell that there happens around 1 accident a day. I think its the road with the highest accident rate in our country.
Last week there was an accident on the highway ramp leading into the highway just a few minutes before I went there.
Lucky I overslept that day, that guy could have crashed into me.

I dont smoke, and dont drink, I pay attention when I drive, even more when I drive fast.
I tend to have good reactions, I am already on the brakes before the guy in front of me when there is a danger on the road.

Once you drive such a dangerous road everyday, you keep paying attention automaticly or otherwise your car will be out of buisiness. (in other words totalled, crashed, toast)

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Seatbelts in the FC are Good. They are fairly safe IMO for as old as they are. The best thing to do in an accidnet is to go limp.


My friend T-boned a Mercedes ML at 55MPH. This is the result.
He walked away with a couple scratches, his passenger broke his arm and ruptured his spleen because he was holding his cell phone out in front of him.

Malikai229

iTrader: (4)

HOLY S*%^!!!! I always figured my FC would crush like a tin can in an accident but WOW!!! Personally I'll take the seat belt any day of the week over an airbag. I was in an accident in my S5, the splines on my steering wheel hub were stripped, and i had the locknut tightened down ridiculously tight (not tight enough) going through a 30mph at about 50mph. Mid turn the steering wheel just breaks loose, I hit the brakes and slide passenger side first through a fence pole, a few reflective road markers and ended up in a ditch. I wasn't at all hurt, just angry that I let that happen to me. I called up AAA and they gave me a wrench to put the wheel back on, pulled me out and I was on my way. Had there been an airbag in the equation, who knows what would have happened. Maybe another incident like the Ford Probe story?

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

did the cell phone survive? if not, maybe it needed an airbag.

Rx-7fetish

To this user and the post below this one, it's not terrible logic, I said nothing of not wearing a seat belt. All im talking about is the no air bag part. If we were talking about seatbelts I would have been all over screaming seatbelts wearing as a religion.
Airbags were invented cause people were to stupid/lazy to put there belt on.

First thing I do is put my belt on when I get in any car. The topic of this thread was airbags. My point was people survive wrecks without airbags all the time.
Had this post been about cars with just lap belts and no shoulder strap I would have said hell yeah it scares the **** out of me to have just a lap belt. I don't even sit in the middle seat of my family truck cause it's just a lap belt. First thing in doing before my 67 t-bird is on the road is finding a way to safely mount a 3 point belt in it.

HOZZMANRX7

iTrader: (43)

Direct to the OP,

Doesn't bother me a bit while I'm driving my S5 Verts.

At point, airbags are meant to be supplimental safety WITH belts. Not in place of.

Rx-7fetish

Irrelevant to original post. On topic that's saying angel=airbag devil=no airbag.

This thread has gotten off topic. Let's stick with airbags assuming you wear your seatbelt cause its the law, and for a good reason.

Seatbelt, no airbag is just as safe as seatbelt, with airbag.

Airbags are from stupid people suing and raising cane about family members dying in car wreck but failing to mention that they weren't properly using the pre-existing safety equipment.

On that note I'm so tired of all the hick "country boys" hollering about they won't wear a seatbelt cause there brothers, uncles, nephews, friends, moms, uncles, friend died because he couldn't get his belt off in the wreck and that the airbag is safer. No one has any first hand accounts of direct family members or friends having that happen to them. I have friends that I refuse to ride with and refuse to ride with me because of this. I'm not riding with 2-3 hundreds pounds of potential cabin projectiles smashing me about. They won't put it on when they drive and I won't move the car if they don't put it on.

alritzer

There is just no doubt that air bags along with seat belts save lives. Seat belts are your primary safety feature but without air bags more people would be killed or severely injured. I had a friend get killed in an S5T2 a couple of years ago, a week before she graduated. She hit a tree going like 40mph. The state police said she would be alive if her car had had air bags. The impact with the tree pushed the steering wheeling close enough to her that the seat belts did not hold her back enough.
As far as the OPs question, I'm not worried about not having air bags but air bags would be nice. I don't think about it every time I get in the car. I have a Mazda6 as my DD and it has like at least 8 air bags.

ashley

seramaz

Take your protein pills and put you helmet on!

walken

iTrader: (6)

airbag is supposed to knock you out so you flop around like a fish. same reason drunks don't die when the wreck. I've been hit by one and hope it never happens again. fractured bone, burns, bloody nose, and that scary feeling waking up thinking I was paralyzed until I finally was able to move.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

football helmet or racing helmet? i wear both for added protection since i don't have no airbag.

rx7racerca

iTrader: (1)

The state police have no way to know she would be alive if the car had an airbag, unless she hit the wheel despite weaing belts properly, they are likely just repeating the party line on bags. If she, for example, sat close to the wheel because she was short, it's debatable whether a bag would save her or not, but it is possible in that circumstance - however, short drivers are also less protected by, and more likely to be injured by airbags as well, sometimes worse than had there been no bag. In pre-1999, 2nd gen airbag cars (when smaller, slower airbags were mandated), this was often the case, as older bags deployed with more speed and force, frequently causing injuries that were disproportionate to the collision.

Rx-7fetish

Bingo! Most women I know sit WAY to close to the steering wheel in respect for there hight. Might girlfriend used to but got tired of being lectured about it by me. Just about could lean forward and tap her forehead on the wheel with the belt tight to her chest.