Unusual front airbag deployment.
Has anyone ever heard of both front airbags going off while just driving down the road? Both front airbags plus the driver's seatbelt tensioner deployed today on my son's '98 2.8 while he was cruising down the highway at 70 mph (smooth, straight road, perfect weather). The guibo broke (it was only 1 year old), so I'm sure that's what triggered the airbags, buy why?
This same car hit a deer at 50 mph (no deployment)4 years ago and also hit a truck tire tread at 70 mph (no deployment) 2 years ago. Perhaps this was just a delayed reaction to those incidents.
vc
Sensor above shaft tunnel?
I am not sure about the Z3, but on my E36 cabrios there is a crash sensor (rollover sensor?) under the back seat, right above the drive shaft hump. Perhaps the Z3 has one in a similar location?
Perhaps when the guibo broke, the drive shaft whacked the hump, causing an instantaneous acceleration reading that triggered the airbags?
Just a thought...
Where did you buy the guibo?
I could take a guess, but...
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http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h.../ZetaTre-4.jpg
1998 Z3 1.9 - few modifications here and there
1999 Z3 2.8 - individual edition (British Traditional)
2003 Z4 2.5i
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h.../maeavatar.gif
Re: Unusual front airbag deployment.
Your guess would probably be correct.
I'll need to double check my purchase records, but my memory supports your likely guess.
vc
Fill me in so I don't make that mistake ;-)
Looking at that picture reminds you why
you don't use cut-rate windshield replacement outfits. That totaly sucks....<font color=white>
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Re: Your guess would probably be correct.
Yes. Please let us know. I am going to replace mine soon.
Instrumentation Technician
I studied automotive engineering at General Motors Institute. Before I got my EE degree, I was an instrumentation technician at United Technologies. At the Patent Office, I examined accelerometer applications.
Solid state accelerometers and gyros (three accelerometers basically) are very common these days in inertial navigation systems, shock sensing, etc. (I am sure that is what they use in those Lenovo thinkpads that sense being dropped and shut down the hard drive before impact).
Very few companies use large mechanical sensors anymore, when these semiconductor devices can be made, and integrated into a control circuit, for fractions of a penny. The days of the mechanical gyroscope are numbered.
This Bosch sensor from 1989 (see link) uses a pendulous accelerometer in a viscous fluid to detect rollover. I think it was used in the Mercedes SL with the early retractable rollbars.
But I think since those days, most manufacturers have switched to solid state devices.
While a driveshaft whacking the transmission hump might not seem like enough force to set off an airbag, in terms of instantaneous acceleration, it could be well over 100gs or so. Sudden shocks can have very high acceleration spikes like that.
FWIW.
One of the the client of the VC I worked in for...
...in Italy was the developer of an enclosed optical gyroscope-accelerometer used in avionics. I remember that one of the market opportunity we looked at was rollover detection systems for the automotive industry... It was very cool stuff and it was quite interesting to learn the theory behind it (well, not that I fully grasped it, but still very interesting)
---------------------------------
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h.../ZetaTre-4.jpg
1998 Z3 1.9 - few modifications here and there
1999 Z3 2.8 - individual edition (British Traditional)
2003 Z4 2.5i
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h.../maeavatar.gif
my Dad worked at UT back in the 80s...
You ever work in the Dallas area?
Re: Where did you buy the guibo?
Wow,
I was about to replace my guibo/flex joint for maintenance at 94k, but now I am wondering if that was a good thing or bad thing??
Please do tell where it was purchased if defective..
Heavy Machinery Lab, Carrier