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Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

Aren’t airbags essentially explosions going off in your face? Fancy car like mercedes probably has 10+ of them going off around you

Especially the one in the door right next to your head could be bad for your ears I imagine ...

Never thought of that before. Thanks for bringing it up

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I've had my front airbags go off twice and didn't notice any impact on my hearing. It was just kind of a loud bang, but not to the point of causing discomfort. Maybe it varies by car and type of accident though.

>Fancy car like mercedes probably has 10+ of them going off around you

And a really well sealed cabin because they don't want any road noise creeping in.

Exploding into a bag, though, so isn't most of the energy absorbed by the expansion of the bag?

Yes, but people regularly get burns and light blunt trauma from airbags. The US versions of many cars even have slightly weaker airbags, because many people don't wear seatbelts and might be killed by a full-strength airbag.

You've actually got it backward. FVMSS regulations in the US require airbags that are more forceful than the UNECE regulations in place in Europe (and other countries which follow Europe instead of the US). You're correct it is about seatbelt use, though. No seatbelt requires a faster airbag to restrain the occupant.

In modern cars the airbag will not fire if the seatbelt is not used. This is the reason why we even have seat belt detectors that make this annoying noise - not just to annoy you but also to figure out whether its safe to fire airbag or not.

Getting hit with airbag into the face when wearing eye glasses for example... that would suck, would it not?

This is just false. Look up a crash test video. You very much do hit the airbag despite the seatbelt.

This is completely untrue. The airbag will fire regardless of whether the seatbelt is worn, though it will be much less effective at restraining you. Out of curiosity, where on earth did you get the idea that they don’t fire?

The bags do displace a lot of ambient air while they are absorbing those explosions.

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