Upon impact all of the airbag systems may not have fired.  If triggered, these uninitiated devices can cause severe physical harm to the occupants and the rescuers.  One should take the view that the vehicle may be booby trapped.  A similar attitude should be held toward hybrid vehicles.  Some individuals have expressed doubts regarding the failure to deploy air bags during serious accidents.  On the last weekend in September 2008, a resident of the area covered by this site fell asleep in his 2006 Chevrolet Aveo while driving on the 103 towards exit 17a. The car hit a post and went off the road into a pile of rocks and with sufficient energy to cause the drive system to come partway through the floor.  Fortunately his injuries were slight and a passing ambulance with crew stopped and removed him from the car and transported him to the Liverpool Hospital.  The air bags failed to deploy. 

SENATOR JOE LIEBERMAN IN THE US LOOKS AT THE BATTERY INSTALLATION IN A HYBRID VEHICLE. PHOTO COURTESY OF setamericafree.org

Explosives and electricity can be life threatening. Before a forced entry into a vehicle is made it is necessary to stabilize the vehicle and to neutralize the potential booby traps. In cases where a storage battery system is involved it is important to flush away any spilt acid with copious amounts of water. Battery acid is highly corrosive and will react with any steel or aluminum which it contacts to furnish gaseous hydrogen. With vehicles using a gas such as hydrogen, methane or propane as a fuel, there is a potential for leakage and that most likely is highest with the highest pressures. The writer was trained in the use of hydrogen at pressures up to 10,000 p.s.i. and the accepted adage was that ‘a little leak is like being a little bit pregnant”. Hydrogen/air mixtures are explosive over a very wide range of concentrations and are easily exploded by sparks. With methane and propane, although the hazard is not as bad in terms of explosivity, there is a serious fire potential as well. With gasoline or diesel one can lay down a layer of foam to prevent ignition by sparks. With gases, that option is not available.

Auto manufactures periodically release flyers related to their vehicles which are supposed to aid first responders. However, things are not standardized and it is unlikely that the responder is going to be familiar with all possible makes and models. (The writer had no success accessing the information over the Internet.) The responder is reduced to a search of the flyers received after identifying the make and model. Having reached this point, the responder will hopefully be able to attack the problem of getting the victims extracted and ready to receive first aid and, if need be, transferred to an ambulance.

JAWS OF LIFE EQUIPMENT

The US Department of Transportation has published a booklet entitled “Emergency Rescue Guidelines for Air Bag Equipped Vehicles”.  This pamphlet is good up to 1997 models. It is available in both PDF and HTML formats. Unfortunately the cost cutting by the current US government has been severe in the areas where the public is protected and special interests are wanting protection from regulation. Up-to-date renditions are not available and when one goes to a manufacturer's site, accessibility may be denied if you do not have an account, name and password.

A RECENT "JAWS OF LIFE" TRAINING SESSION AT MILL VILLAGE SAW A VEHICLE RIPPED OPEN.  HERE THE DRIVER'S DOOR WAS QUICKLY PRIED OPEN

THESE POWERFUL HYDRAULIC JAWS RIP OPEN THE REAR TAILGATE LIKE OPENING A CAN OF PEAS.  SUCH POWER MUST BE CAREFULLY HANDLED

Air bag deployment — an occupational safety risk?

Air Bags Can Help Or Harm

SaferCar.gov - Additional Resources

Firefighter Safety And The Modern Vehicle, by Shawn Solar

IndiaCar.com - Airbags

Automobile Airbag Identification Issues,  by Bob Brown Vehicle Safety Systems

What's New For 1998, ‘99? by Bob Brown

Emergency Procedures for the Honda Insight

Standard Operating Guideline - 4.3.2 - Rescue - Motor Vehicle Accidents

Fire Engineering - Extrication

The above listed sites treat various aspects of accident response and extraction. Unfortunately we have not found the desired information of how to deactivate various potential hazards designed into vehicles. It appears that the only approach is to request information directly from manufacturers. Such an approach is time consuming from a collection stand point. It will not be easy to create files with ready access to the needed information. What is needed is a web site which contains diagrams, pictures, directions and recommendations from each manufacturer on all vehcles. The need is world wide. Things would be simpler if universal standards were created as was the case with sealed beam headlights and the general usage of 12 volt systems.