My wife totaled our Toyota Sienna in an accident. ( Not her fault and she's alright ) What I find absolutely amazing is that if she

wasn't wearing a seat belt and she didn't have airbags, she wouldn't have been injured at all! The seat belt wasn't bad; it just

bruised her ribs a little. The airbags were ridiculous; I didn't know they had airbags for your legs. They nailed both her legs so

badly that we had to go back in for an MRI to make sure she didn't have a blood clot. Any of you guys ever hear of this? Do they

have leg airbags in work vans and pickups?

Never heard of them. Glad she's Ok, BB

But, what would the injuries have been without the airbags?- Whiplash?, broken ribs?, broken legs?, internal injuries, spleen injuries, etc.? .broken rib piercing heart? I’ll go with the airbags!

Some airbags are "fired" by gunpowder. Or is that an urban legend? As well, a deer collision can set off the airbags. Can you imagine what airbags do to faces with jewelry in noses, lips, eyebrow's and other non facial places?

Just glad she is going to be alright.

I knew someone was going to mention that Ron. Even my wife agrees that because she wasn't going very fast that her grip on the wheel

would have been enough. It was really a goofy accident. The tow truck driver was certain that they going to fix the damage and I

agreed with him. The engine was fine and the damage was confined to the plastic on the front of the vehicle. The insurance adjuster

said that the frame was bent and the battery cable was severed, so who am I to argue. We pick up the new Sienna on Friday. I'm going

to miss that old Sienna. It would have made an excellent ADC vehicle.

I was in an accident in 95, no seatbelt, no airbags. If I had been wearing a belt I would have been much worse off, couple bruises, and some stitches. It was a side impact, most safety equipment is designed and rated for front or rear collisions. Usually with a side impact you are better off without the belt. Glad your wife is OK.

Kermit, I don't believe anyone uses gun powder in air bags, the most common reference I am aware off is that the air bag is deployed with similar force and speed to a gunshot.

Why can't the new vehicle make a good ADC vehicle? Is it somehow different than the old one?

For Kermit- One source- http://larryscheckel.com/2014/05/25/how-do-air-bags-activate/
Another source- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag Many more sources are available Through a GOOGLE search.

Ron, the new one will be even better. We added the navigation package. I just figured I could get my wife to sell the business the

old one and buy herself a new one. Now the business will have to wait four or five years. Since I'm the one that gets hollered at

every time we are short vehicles, I thought I could get a jump on the problem and have one in reserve. As far as liking vehicles,

my 2014 Transit Connect is still the best. If they are all as good as mine, I would highly recommend them.


I believe that Kermit is right about the gun powder. My wife thought the car caught fire but the construction worker that was first

on the scene said it was just the gun powder that powers the airbags. She used to shoot trap and said the smell wasn't exactly like

shotgun powder but it was close. I don't know what else they would use but we could be wrong.

P.S. Ron, thanks for the nitrogen gas article. I don't know what that smells like but that could be it.

Buckling up does save lives! Please please please us the seatbelts every time you leave the driveway.

Yes, airbags do cause injuries at times but they pale in comparison to the alternative.

I have been a volunteer fireman for 20 years and a medical first responder (A first repsonder in a rural area, shows up first to provide medical attention till an ambulance arrives as we are in a rural area and the ambulance response time is not always quick) for 10 years. Though we are a rural area, we do have a major highway running through our town as well.

A recent example is had an accident at an intersection of two town roads. One driver was going 40 miles per hour, the other about 45. Neither one was seatbelted. Both would have probably walked away from the accident had they been buckled as the driver compartments were not impacted at all of either vehical. INSTEAD, one driver was ejected out the passenger window (it was not open) and she was flown out of the scene via helicopter. Broken neck, 4 ribs, pelvis, arm, and 5 other broken bones. She also had lots and lots of road rash. The other driver ONLY had a bump on his head. (but he could not remember where he was going, who the president was, nor the day of the week).

The number of deaths due to ejections not only is extremely high, it is extremely graphic. Yes, people are often thrown free of the vehicle, but what they don't tell you is that the vehicle almost always catches up to the person and rolls over them. Or they get caught up in the wreckage and roll with the car.

Not convinced. Google degloving of a leg or an arm. This happens often when a leg or arm gets caught outside of the vehicle when only a part of the body gets caught outside the passenger compartment.

Sometimes in low speed accidents the airbags hurt. But having seen the imprint of a young persons face perfectly outlined in shattered windshield glass, and having to apply a large bandage over that victims face to stop the bleeding, I will take some airbag burns, bruising, and pain.

So think I am over reacting? Think about cutting a young child out of a vehicle knowing that the 2 adults that were in the car with him are deceased. Finding out later that that child had to relearn how to walk, talk, and ride a bike. All because an adult forgot to buckle the child in the car seat, and neither adult was buckled.
Or how about picking up body parts of a male and female victim and try to make sure you get the male parts in the red bag and the female parts in the orange bag. And having it take 3 people over 20 minutes to pick up all the parts.

I could write a book of examples here but I think you get the idea! Sorry if I am preaching but the idea that you might be better off without seatbelts is simply ludicrous to those emergency crews who respond to auto accidents.

Buckle up and God bless!

PS. Side impact air bags are the norm now. They were not in 1995 but they certainly are today.

Trapper Kurt, I have a friend that is also a 1st responder and he is just as vehement about seat belts and as you are. I didn't mean

to imply that seat belts aren't a good thing. ( We still wear them ) I was just really disappointed in the injuries caused by the air

bags. Had the air bags not inflated, my wife would be just fine with just the seat belt. Knowing that any time you have a fender

bender that you will be injured by the airbags isn't very comforting.

I got rear ended about 5 years ago and the airbags didn't go off. I got whiplash and I've paid about $15,000 in medical bills since. I'm pretty sure I had my seatbelt on. It was a light rear ending but it sure put me in pain. I'm pro airbag and seatbelt.

I would have to agree with wearing your seat belt!!!!!

I was in an accident years ago where I rolled my truck end over end at about 60 MPH. My truck flew over the signs in the median of a divided highway. Every piece of metal on that truck was bent, the rear axle was ripped off and laying about 100 yards from the body of the truck, the cab was crushed to the steering wheel. When it finally came to rest (on its top) after what I was told 5 or 6 flips, I was able to crawl out the window with no more than a bump to my head and a couple of small cuts from flying glass.

Had it not been for my seat belt and a roll bar I would certainly have been saving other lives by donating my organs.

On a side note, I had a Stihl 028 in the bed of the truck and found it laying on the highway. It still runs and is my favorite saw!!!!!

We got the new Sienna last night. Everybody knows about keyless entry, but this van is keyless everything. You press the brake and a

button on the dashboard to start; put it in Park and press the button to turn off engine. As long as the sensor is in your pocket,

you can open all the locked doors.If you leave the sensor in the vehicle, it won't lock. I can't wait for this to become an industry

standard. No more searching for your keys underneath your waders! And the backup camera covers a whole lot more area. ( You can

actually see who it is that you are trying to run over )

Wow, Dirk! Scary story; thank God you are still with us.
Everybody who has an "opinion" on seat belt use can probably cite one or two examples - possibly personal experience - in which somebody would be dead if he'd be wearing his seat belt. These may be true, but they are the rare exceptions.
It's a fact that the three-point seatbelt is, by far, the best safety device ever installed in cars. And there's a very good reason four- and five-point harnesses are used by professional race drivers.
There's a ton of science to support seat belt use, and relatively little, anecdotal examples of car riders being better off when not wearing seat belts. It's all about the facts and figures.

Air bag safety https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FNqGQvlirI0

Thank you Dave. The chick with the pillow will be riding with me tomorrow.

I figured that would be the case.

Hey Dirk, after reading about your hair raising experience ( Glad you made it through with just a headache )I have just got to ask;

We must own about ten of every tool used in ADC work. And yet we don't have a single chainsaw. Are we missing something?

Maybe we need better seat belts? A 5 point harness like a racecar may be overkill, but cause less injury in an impact. My left shoulder isn't the same after a big pile up from 1997

Paul, I don't think she'd been injury free. Without the airbags she wouldn't have had the leg bruises, but she'd probably be hospitalized if not for the belts. After 10 years of racing I've had my share of belt bruises. That bruise is from the force of the belt gradually decelerating the body. If it had not been for the belts, she would have impacted another part of the car, probably the steering wheel and windshield, with the same force as the impact of the two vehicles. Belt bruises are a sign that they did their job. I've used for their intended purpose enough to be passionate about their use. Everyone should know the proper placement of the belts too. They just don't go around you, they must be in the right spots to work. If the belt is over the belly the internal organs take the brunt of the impact causing internal injury. The belts should go from hip bone to hip bone below the belly. The bone structure takes a lot bigger impact than the spleen does. The shoulder belt is pretty much self explanatory but still should be between the shoulder joint and the shoulder. I know of women that will wear the belt under their arm as to not wrinkle their clothes. That does two things, it twist the body in an impact, and puts the force of the accident back onto the internal organs. Another thing that ticks me off, is watching young parents with children in booster seats, just put that belt over them as long as it's latched. That belt, especially the one around the waist has to be below the belly, and pulled snug. Any other way and that child might as well be a dash mounted air freshener.
Ok, I'll step down from my soap box now. lol

Okay, I'm sorry I even mentioned the small belt bruise. I am glad she was wearing her seat belt. The airbags are a whole different

matter. Not a single doctor or nurse could believe that the bruising on her legs was caused by airbags, so obviously this is not the

norm for accidents of this nature.

I've heard of quite a few black eyes from airbags but not leg bruising. Almost sounds like she was thrown upward at impact.

There's all kinds of defective airbag recalls going on now.

Paul,

Chainsaw purchase was pre wildlife control work. I bought the saw in '82 while in High school and used to cut a lot of wood while I was in college to have some pocket money. Now I heat my house with wood, so I still use it quite a bit!

Hey that one belongs in the chainsaw hall of fame. I quit using one when I found out that natural gas was not the smell in your

bathroom but something you could heat your home with.