Airbag lifespan?
 

What's the consensus on the lifespan of a steering wheel air bag? (Non-Takata ;))

I have a 1990 964. The car's now 30 years old. The air bag light still illuminates/works on the dash, so I presume there's some sort of self-diagnostic system that still works indicating the air bag is functional. I see people replace their stock steering wheel with an aftermarket one. Obviously that eliminates the air bag. Are they missing out on much (in terms of safety)?

I've heard of some Chrysler products from the 1950s with air bags that still can work (surprising their owners), decades later. Would a 30 year-old Porsche air bag be reliable, too?

Looking online, I see articles that profess to the functionality of these devices for decades. But one article touted that "these manufacturers have 25 years of experience." Great, my car is 30 years old. Another website noted how Mercedes says their bags are good for the lifetime of the car, from 1992-onward. Well, my car's older than that. (And given the proximity of their factories, is it possible that Mercedes and Porsche used the same suppliers?)

Do I chuck the OEM steering wheel due to my desire for aftermarket fashion? I didn't mind doing so in the G-body, because that car had no air bag system. Or am I significantly diminishing my crash safety?

As a 356 owner I gotta ask.... what's a seat belt? :D

I'd be curious as to the effectiveness of the design compared to modern designs, as well as if *that* particular unit would still work as originally designed, etc.

I don't think the presence would *hurt* anything, if it either worked or didn't work. If something caused a half second delay though, I could see where after getting through the crash having the airbag deploy too late to be of use but still whack you in the face to be a slight possibility.

Quck duckduckgo shows articles from jalopnik, hagerty and edmunds that boil down to "rtfm - airbag service/replacement/inspection info is in the owners manual, or contact the manufacturer"

What kind of 1950’s airbags are you talking about? Suspension?
Supplemental Restraint airbags first appeared in passenger vehicles around 1986-ish, correct?

I’ve wondered about the integrity of passenger airbags as well.

I had an 86 190e 2.6 and there was a big sticker in the glove box to change it in 10 years.

Yeah having learned to drive in 1957, I'd like to know what cars had airbags. Some of then still had a stylish, bullet shaped center to the steering wheels. Nobody knew what seat belts were, and I still remember how strange it felt to buckle up my first one. Probably as strange as it would feel to not buckle up one now days.

My 92 Audi 100 had a sticker stating to see dealer and change airbag 10 years after purchase. I received a letter from Audi of America around 2000 stating that the lifespan was extended to 20 years. The car left my garage for good a few years ago with the original airbag in the steering wheel.

found this on Hagerty:

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/07/19/should-you-replace-vintage-airbags-or-drive-on-with-confidence

15 yr repl. cycle for older Benz Bags

I personally "tested" 18 yo VW Airbag (believe it was Autoliv brand) by rearending car that suddenly decided to stop and make U-turn and can testify it worked as advertised! :)

The old airbag systems were pretty crude by modern standards, lots of people were hurt by the airbag if they sat too close to the steering wheel. Personally I would swap out the wheel and just wear my seatbelt.

Randy,

Thanks for posting this this, the good news for me and my 2010 E class and 2012 C class (which had Tanaka Airbags replaced this year-2020) is that MBZ says no replacement is needed for post 1992 MBZ vehicles. . . from the Hagerty article:

"Airbags that were installed in Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles prior to January 1992 have a useful service life of 15 years, and must be replaced after the service life has been reached. The airbag replacement label located on the driver’s B-pillar, or on the glove box door, indicates when the airbag must be replaced. Airbags installed in Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles manufactured as of January 1992 no longer have a service life limit, and therefore are not required to be replaced."

I wonder about my 2005 Cayenne. . .

From Wikipedia

The first commercial designs were introduced in passenger automobiles during the 1970s, with limited success, and actually caused some fatalities.[2] Broad commercial adoption of airbags occurred in many markets during the late 1980s and early 1990s with a driver airbag, and a front-passenger airbag, as well, on some cars, and many modern vehicles now include six or more units.[3]

Contact Porsche, see what they say. I wondered about the airbags in a late 90's Camry my daughter drove. Thankfully she sold it on a few years ago.

Yes, the "hinge point" is 1992 - which Noah already discovered. I also saw some verbiage to the effect that they may have simply recharacterized things based on newer data...

OTOH, I saw something about plastic vs. metal seals...

so - nothing definitive

to be really safe the thing to do is to replace pre-92 Benz bags every 15 years

You might write Porsche Div. of VWAG (I almost wrote Porsche AG) and ask them. If you both wrote, they might get the idea that there is a general concern out there.

My wife got to test the airbags in our ‘95 993 back in 2014... as the car hydroplaned across 2 lanes of traffic and then connected with K rail. 🤦*♀️🤯

They worked...

bag in the 91 volvo 744 when off in 2015 in a minor rear hit at age 25 or so

anyone have a bag fail when hit in an older car ?

I could not find any internet documentation of 1950s-era air bags. Apparently Ford and GM started working on the idea in the 1950s. But it wasn't until 1973 that GM put air bags into about 10K Impalas. 20 years later, someone (GM?) found a couple of these cars (not even running by then), stuck in a fresh battery, and crash-tested them. Both times the air bags worked as advertised.

I'm hesitant to ask PCNA, because I'm sure I'll get the standard lawyerly, CYA response: replace it if you're concerned, function cannot be assured after 10/12/15 years, etc. There's plenty of stuff we're told to never ever do out of legal reasons, not functional ones. Heck, in the owner's manual there's verbiage to never ever jack your car up via the underside of the motor, yet the majority of people over on the 964 forum do/have done that.

So my original question was motivated by wondering if there's any science behind when to replace an air bag (or if there's an expiration date).

just the different seals used at different times

....

for a different perspective: my 911 has side impact beams but no, no , no airbags

my 1986 VW Vanagon Westy met 1980s safety stds. when manf.'d but a lot of the low buck crowd just cuts the roof off to add the popup tent without adding in the std. bars for roof reinforcement...

One thing that I would mention, I believe seat belts for cars WITH airbags are actually different from seat belts for cars without. I'm not sure what the difference is, but it's maybe something to check into.

Wow. Seems I’m always learning something fascinating about vehicle development in general. From the 19teens, 20’s, 30’s and onward, there were some amazing innovations. It’s the only draw to BarrettJackson for me. Love seeing those one-offs.

Now let’s go find one of those Impalas!

I've had one deploy. Huge scrape and bruise on right inner forearm.

Read a statistic somewhere a typical driver will utilize an airbag once in just over 100 years.