rmoore
03-19-1999, 01:52 AM
A Posting From Ron Moore, Forum Moderator
On Wednesday, 3-10, I burned a 1995 Honda for another of my 'field tests'. That sedan had undeployed dual front airbags.
I planned on verifying what the automakers call the 'auto-ignition' feature of sodium azide.
I was told buy automaker engineers that when this inflation chemical reaches 280 degrees F, the sodium azide reacts spontaneously. The front airbags are supposed to deploy just as if the car were involved in a front collision. I hoped to see the nylon bags deploy and instantly melt.
With video cameras rolling, I lit the newspaper that I had stuffed up under the dash. About four sheets of paper ignited with a match. No accelerants.
At 40 seconds into the fire, flashover occurred. Remember now, I had already removed both front doors of this 4-door so the cameras could get a good view.
Flames were now peaking over 8 feet high coming out the back window. Suddenly a giant pop and a long extended hissing sound for about 12 seconds. It was like a tire that just ran over a nail and was leaking air.
At the instant the pop occurred, a huge blast of smoke in a very narrow jet-like shape shot straight out the driver's side a distance of 15 feet. We got this on video. I came almost right towards the camera.
A pure white fireball can then be seen moving through the car and blasting out the rear. The temperature of this fireball was so hot, it registers pure white on the video.
Honda engineers will be shown this clip on Monday, 3-22. They feel the pop, blast of smoke and hissing sound was the driver's airbag module auto-igniting out the back side of the inflator module.
What was peculiar was that we let the fire burn for only 3:10 minutes and then knocked it down. In that short period of time, total burnout! Nothing combustible left in the car to burn.
The airbag covers melted away and the still undeployed dual front airbags had begun to melt from the radiant heat. But they were still completely folded just like the day they were put into the car. I got good still pix of the aftermath.
I'll let you know what the Honda people say when I meet with them Monday. Stay tuned!
Rmoore@firehouse.com
On Wednesday, 3-10, I burned a 1995 Honda for another of my 'field tests'. That sedan had undeployed dual front airbags.
I planned on verifying what the automakers call the 'auto-ignition' feature of sodium azide.
I was told buy automaker engineers that when this inflation chemical reaches 280 degrees F, the sodium azide reacts spontaneously. The front airbags are supposed to deploy just as if the car were involved in a front collision. I hoped to see the nylon bags deploy and instantly melt.
With video cameras rolling, I lit the newspaper that I had stuffed up under the dash. About four sheets of paper ignited with a match. No accelerants.
At 40 seconds into the fire, flashover occurred. Remember now, I had already removed both front doors of this 4-door so the cameras could get a good view.
Flames were now peaking over 8 feet high coming out the back window. Suddenly a giant pop and a long extended hissing sound for about 12 seconds. It was like a tire that just ran over a nail and was leaking air.
At the instant the pop occurred, a huge blast of smoke in a very narrow jet-like shape shot straight out the driver's side a distance of 15 feet. We got this on video. I came almost right towards the camera.
A pure white fireball can then be seen moving through the car and blasting out the rear. The temperature of this fireball was so hot, it registers pure white on the video.
Honda engineers will be shown this clip on Monday, 3-22. They feel the pop, blast of smoke and hissing sound was the driver's airbag module auto-igniting out the back side of the inflator module.
What was peculiar was that we let the fire burn for only 3:10 minutes and then knocked it down. In that short period of time, total burnout! Nothing combustible left in the car to burn.
The airbag covers melted away and the still undeployed dual front airbags had begun to melt from the radiant heat. But they were still completely folded just like the day they were put into the car. I got good still pix of the aftermath.
I'll let you know what the Honda people say when I meet with them Monday. Stay tuned!
Rmoore@firehouse.com