dengman

So on the way home i hit a bump pretty hard and the Upper control arms hit hard.. and my air bags pop.

Keep in mind I'm going 75mph..

I froze for like 5 seconds and thought did that really happen.

dash is melted and my front seat belts are locked..

Is there a way to unlock the front seatbelts?


99 ls400....

dengman

I knew I should have drilled the towers on friday.. =(

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

wow that's the first i've heard of that, you must have hit a hell of a bump to jolt the chassis hard enough to set the front impact sensor off, the chassis must have literally hit the ground or come damn close. The loading required to set the bags off is NOT small.

If the pretensioners fired in the seatbelts they're done, need to be replaced.

good luck finding new bags+belts mate, I'd just replace the dash too. On the plus side, you can reuse your cluster and steering wheel aside from the bag/cover.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

You can actually have the seat belts rebuilt... A friend buys wrecked cars, repairs them and sells them and does this all the time - a place in the Carolinas somewhere, not completely sure and I'm out of town for the week, but, I'm sure you can search for it... charges $65 to rebuild them, IIRC...

hotdawwg

Damn, that must been really scary!

dengman

I was hopping I can find some one to rebuild for me.

In the back of my head I knew it was possible. So when it happen I thought.. "did this really happen" My friend nearly died earlier. eventful day. http://youtu.be/oKZlS9QDZ5M

I think I'll just fiberglass the dash and get a suede dash cover made. Until I find a dash. As for the airbag I just might repair the cover. Not a fan of airbags anyways. If i get in a high speed collision id hope my seat belt will keep me in the car and or just die in the car. Ive been in couple 40mph and under crashes and the airbag didnt do anything since the seat belt locked before i even reached the bag.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

WOW! i hope you are physically ok! i never heard of this happening before but now we all should be the wiser.

what suspension are you running? i wouldn't think the UCA would cause that big of a shock to trigger the front air bags. at first i thought you meant air bags as in your suspension, not the impact air bags.

dengman

megan racing track for mk3 supra. 18k front 14k rear.
Stiffest OTS (off the shelf) that fits with out waiting a week or two.

http://statigr.am/p/287185005183251077_31944363

http://statigr.am/p/287184731806904962_31944363

http://statigr.am/p/287145196901380238_31944363

http://statigr.am/p/287075386125463793_31944363

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

those are stiff at 18k, that means that bump you hit was probably a curb! are your wheels ok?

hotdawwg

Damn those spring rates are hella stiff.... I would imagine it would make the ride kinda unbearable...

dengman

Havent check the wheels. Wouldnt surprise me if they were.

I love the spring rate. Reminds me of a civic hatch on race suspension 12k 8k...
You have to keep in mind the ls400 is twice the weight of a 2000lb civic.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

good to know they can be rebuilt.

dengman keep in mind that if you remove the airbag and don't tell your insurance, if you are in an accident they CAN deny you coverage as the factory safety devices have been altered. Also, no, seatbelts and inertia don't work that way. seatbelts are made to have some give in them to let you hit the airbag, they don't act the same as 5-6pt harnesses in racecars. Your neck will thank you.

dengman

airbags are designed for highspeed impact. The accidents ive been in were 40 and under apparently its fast enough to deploy the air bags but I've never even reached the air bags since amount inertia and the give didnt allow me to go that far. Reason why I do not favor them in slow speed accidents. Could cause more harm than good IE airbag is defective and shoots shrapnel into my face. Highspeed accident and air bag = more % of surviving.

I miss my 80's cars that didnt have airbags. If I made it this far I think I'll be alright. considering the ls400 has a hard ***. I'm not worried about causing the accident. I'm worried about the person thats going to hit me.

But yeah you are right about they can deny coverage in an event of an accident that caused me bodily harm.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i'm hesitant to even touch that bag of madness. An airbag easily saved my neck (literally) in a ~35-50mph combined head-on impact. Airbag QC is so high (because of the potential liability issues) that failures and "shrapnel"-esque malfunctions are EXTREMELY rare. And then there's the insurance and medical industry statistics.... If you want to run without one, feel free. I've done it before (on track cars with half/full cages and harnesses) too.

Also, another aspect that just occurred to me, your coilovers likely don't have the proper stroke for the LS since you "adapted" some mk3 coils on. mk3 and LS suspension geometry isn't really all that similar, especially in the rear with the amount of articulation present. An overly long or short stroke can transmit a lot more energy into the chassis than the shock sensors for the bags is designed for.

dengman

Supra specs of megan racing track
- SPRING RATES:

F: 62mm ID; 180mm length; 18 kg/mm
R: 62mm ID; 180mm length; 14 kg/mm

- DAMPER SPECS:

F: 115mm stroke; 220mm length; A4 X valving code
R: 115mm stroke; 220mm length; A1+ X valving code


LS400 specs of Megan racing LP
SPRING RATES:
F: 62mm ID; 200mm length; 12 kg/mm
R: 62mm ID; 220mm length; 8 kg/mm

DAMPER SPECS:
F: 115mm stroke; 220mm length; A2 valving code
R: 135mm stroke; 300mm length; A1 valving code


rear damper is longer and has longer stroke on the ls400.


I plan on hauling a trailer with a car or boat on it someday.. of course with trailer brakes.