Airbags & Passengers

[Ed Wodzienski <general@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All:

I was pondering this the other day and thought I would ask the digest for
insight:

The question is this:
"How does the airbag system know if a front-seat passenger is present or
not during an airbag-deploying collision?"

BMW advertises that it's "advanced airbag system" in the E36 M3 (at least
for the 98 I purchased) is smart enough to not deploy the passenger airbag
if a passenger is not present, thus saving on "costly airbag replacement"
during certain types of collisions.

Is there a pressure switch in the passenger seat to detect a body? I know
that it uses a switch in the seat belt buckle to determine the deployment
force (rapid deployment for unbelted humans, slower deployment for belted).
Does the system use this switch for the "non-deploying" decision for the
passenger-side airbag?

Why is Ford advertising "Second Generation Airbags" on thier new cars and
trucks? Aren't these just depowered airbags? Doesn't (didn't) BMW have this
since 1995? (Or even sooner?) Is BMW not jumping on the marketing bandwagon
in advertising its "advanced airbag system"?

Many thanks for your time,

Ed

- --
Ed Wodzienski (E3)
'98 M3/4 Cosmos Black/Grey via Euro Del
(Sharked, Euro Headlights, Clear Lenses, D'Lan hitch)
'90 Ninja ZX-7

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