If I'm pounding on the horn when I slam into a car, will it stop the bag from going off?

 

haha. no it won't. You might break a few fingers when it does go off.

 

why dont you try?

Theres a sensor on the chassis that sends a signal to discharge the airbags when it feels a crash that is "hard" enough.

 

You definitely wanna keep your hands faaar away from that thing when it explodes!! You could break your fingers or even your arm.

 

Is this a serious question?? DO you really think that it wouldn't?? But on the other hand I heard if your pressing in the cigarette lighter on impact the bag won't deploy. Give it a try and then let us know

 

When most drivers anticipate a crash, they usually cling onto the wheel for dear life... when the airbag explodes, it WILL break your arm if you hold onto the steering wheel tight enough.

 

How did I know you would be 2nd to reply? But I do want to know why this dude thinks pounding on the horn would disable the airbag

 

Because I try my best to help when I have nothing better to do or atleast postwhore I do have SOME knowledge about vehicles.

A bet while smoking up?

 

What. The. ****. ......

It's a sad sad world we live in.

 

Well i was just asking, because in the 2 wrecks where someone has slammed into me, the cop, body shop, and insurance said the airbags should have gone off, so i didnt know if Nissan wired up a kill switch to keep from breaking someones arms when ever some idiot slams into the Maxima...

 

They address the airbag in the defensive driving course in NYS. It's another one of my pet peeves, every state in the country should have defensive driving every 3 years, and offer 10% off liability and collision. It not only makes sense, but it improves the mental awareness of all drivers. But that's New York.

Here in PA, we have to pay extra to be able to sue--what nonsense is that? Driver improvement is only for old people, and people refuse to alternate merge. Blew my mind on 9th Ave in Manhattan around XMAS--the queue was over 1 hour outbound Lincoln Tunnel. There were all these cars from PA and DE trying to cut-in as the queue neared W 37th St.--but unlike Philly, NOT ONE of them were let in. And they were pounding on their steering wheels! Welcome to the big city!!

 

Speaking of airbags and explosive force - maximas have second generation bags which have 2 speeds of deployment, normal and slower. Potential injury to occupants is reduced by this feature.
Stikine

 

no offense, i dont know the nature of your accidents, but people usually dont slam into you with the front of your car, so either you slammed into them, or it was some other type of hit(ie other guy blew a stop sign and hit the front corner of your car, sideswiped the front(if that makes sense). either one of those would normally not cause your airbags to deploy. neither would a hit that goes over your frame rails(if you rear ended a suv for example) and destroys everything over them because there was no structural support, making it look worse than it really is. airbag sensors are like a pendulum. it needs to swing a certain ammount before the sensor makes contact and goes off. the car needs to be decelerating over x speed for that to happen, and it needs to be a direct front hit for it to go off. it wouldnt make sense if you got hit in the side and your front airbags went off. there's no need for them then.
hope that makes sense

edit. i just looked at your cardomain page and both hits look like they are some sort of offset from the front, so they shouldnt have gone off. the first page maybe, but i dont know how that one happened. the second one you said you hit the side of the girls car, and the damage is to the right of the frame rail, wont go off. if your're really concerned, take it to the dealer and have them test it. your insurance people/bodyshop people need to take some classes and find out how airbags work

 

Cops, Shops and Insurance companys cannot determine when your air bags should or should not deploy.

It depends on the force and location of the impact.

For example, if you plow under a pickup truck and the impact is up high enough just to distroy your headlights, hood and radiator support, totaling the vehicle, your bags probably will not deploy. Take the same accident, same speed but make the impact lower on your car so your level with the frame rails, your bags will definately deploy.

The force of impact is very different from a sheet metal only impact verses a frame rail impact. The sheet metal will absorb most of the impact as it folds up, the way it's designed to. A frame rail impact will not absorb as much force, thus triggering the impact sensor to set off your air bags to protect you.

4th gen SRS systems measure G force at the SRS controller under the center console, there are no sensors throughout the car.

Later model 5th gens are equipped with impact sensors on the radiator support.


EDIT: Just read Shaved's post, he's got it right!

 

I don't think maxima's have 2nd generation airbags to deploy at 2 diff set deployment funtions. Ill tell you what ive learned in school about airbags.

-time zero when the impact begins airbags do nothing
-twenty milliseconds later, the sensors pick up a signal and send it to the bag module and the airbag begins to inflate.
-three milliseconds later from that point, the airbag is fully deployed and on your chest
-seventeen milliseconds later the bag is starting to get smaller
-thirty milliseconds later its all over the bag did its job.
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It takes 2 sensors to determine an accident. For instance, if your driving in an suv off roading those bumps can make your airbags blow, but since it takes 2 sensors to determine it, they are safer in the fact they wont blow up while hitting potholes. Depending on your crash I wouldn't know if they should have deployed or not. I don't think hold the horn does anything. BUT I DID notice that in a crash commerical they took a town car and showed the effects of an airbag deploying and not deploying the one with it not deploying had duck tape all over the airbag cover. Airbags interests me, we had the pleasure of deploying a few in my school. Let me tell you thank god they are bolted on tight or else, these things can jump in the air pretty high.

 

The 4th gen Maxima's from at least 98-99 (maybe 97?) will have the 2nd generation (depowered) airbags but they do not have dual stage deployment. The 95/96 models have the original airbags that deploy in smaller collisions and with more force. They are more dangerous than the depowered airbags from 1998 on. That's cool that you got to learn about that all in school. When I was in highschool their budget was so cheap that we never could have done stuff like deploying airbags!