Do airbags go off when rear ended?

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asked Apr 22, 2020 in Safety by ankjk (500 points)
Do airbags go off when rear ended?

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answered Apr 22, 2020 by Jtakolo90009 (500 points)
In some older cars airbags may go off when rear ended but most times they do not.

I've had an airbag go off in an older car before when I was rear ended but with the newer car I have when I was rear ended the airbag did not deploy or go off.

Airbags usually only go off if you rear end someone and suddenly slow down and stop.

Airbags activate by use of a sensor which is an electronic chip known as an accelerometer that measures the speed of the car.

When the accelerometer detects the sudden deacceleration of the car then the airbags deploy.

So when the car is traveling at a high enough speed and then suddenly stops it tells the computer to deploy the airbags.

I've had cars where the airbag even deployed when rear ended or even when I crashed into another car at a slow speed but those were old cars.

I'm not sure if it will do the same on newer cars and hope to never find out personally again.

An airbag can hurt you some if they deploy in a wreck.

However the injury and pain from the airbag is nothing when it's compared to a potential injury or even death from a car wreck without the airbag.

I was once in a wreck and when the airbag deployed from my steering wheel I got a bruise on my face and it stung for about 30 minutes.

But after 30 minute the pain and stinging went away and I was okay afterwards.

If I hadn't had the airbag deploy the injury would have probably been a lot worse.

So yes the airbag can hurt when they deploy but they can save lives as well.

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