Airbag injuries to firefighters

[jducharme]

I've asked this question before but since nobody tracks it I'll ask again.
Does any know of or have heard of any injuries to firefighters during an extrication due to an accidential airbag deployment? I know about Dayton and the slim jim hoax.
Thanks

[JorgHeck]

I have done a lot of research in this field and only found the Dayton Airbag Incident as the only well documented case of an accidental airbag deployment (no sign for such a case here in germany or in europe). I hear many rumours of other deployment but I could not get any further informations on them, so I personaly think, there are no other cases where rescue personal was injured.

I found this this webpage when I looked for other incidents but for me it's nothing more than a list of rumours with a commercial background! If these incidents all really happened, why is there no further information (time, place, etc.) and why do national agencys like the NHTSA in the USA don't have more informations. I contacted James Onder some years ago and he had nothing than informations on the Dayton Incident and some incidents with airbag explosion during vehicle fires.

If anyone has other information on incidents I would like to hear them. Don't understand me wrong, I'm aware of the risks that airbag systems have after an accident, I always say use safety rules and be informed whats coming down the road. But I hate this horrific stories about firefighters who lost their head in an accidental airbag deployment! They only have the effect that firefighters have fear and that there is delay in the extrication and life support progress!

[jducharme]

Thanks Jorg
The fact that those guys are in my own backyard and at no time have I heard of any of these reports and neither have any of the many departments that I have visted. Thats not to say they have not happened its just strange but ypu would think that someone other then the class teacher would have heard of of these injuries-firefighters tend to gossip like old ladies at a bridge club.

[Bones42]

I'll agree, Dayton video is the only one I have seen. Heard of others, but no one can ever give facts.

[martinm]

Drk, Just seen this post, as I don't come down here very often. *** europe has been mentioned previously, I can confirm that there has not been a single incident involving UK fire services and deployments of airbags at incidents.

Partly this will be due to the amount of training we do to minimise the risk involved, and the large number of vehicles which are now fitted with them, giving us many oportunities to get to grips with them. We have access to many differing types of bag busting/restraint equipment over here, but with so many to choose from we tend to opt for the "keep out of the way" approach!

I have a training video somewhere of airbag deployments, which was done for us by a local car factory, which shows, very graphically, the effect of having firefighters/tools/patients anywhere near a bag if it decides to go off. its quite an eyeopener for crews to see exactly how far an Amkus spreader will travel when its hit at 400mph .

[MalahatTwo7]

I know I will be corrected if wrong, BUT....

I did some looking around a while ago on airbag systems in general, and I am sure that Ron Moore hooked me up with a site: www.extrication.com (I think - I'm at work and don't have all the same favorites here as home and I went through several different links) In there, I am sure that there was a video clip (and again on the limb) from Plano, TX, which is Ron's home dept. I am pretty sure that the vid shows a FF on the pax side of the car (roof off) and he gets "blown" out of the car.

As I remember the story, the centre consol was also the housing for the main airbag controller and when they put pressure on it from a spreader or ram (can't remember which it was), the system blew, and one FF was caught by it.

*Ducking head awaiting the beating*

[Bones42]

27 - that video you saw is the Dayton incident. Ron was a narrator on the tape discussing what happened and should not have happened.

[MalahatTwo7]

Thanks Bones. Pfire and I were discussing this topic last night, and we both remembered the incident, but we "missed" on the location.