# Don't drive your car if the airbag is not working. The load limited seat belt won't save you anymore **URL:** \ **Category:** Safety\ **Created:** [June 2, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445 "2022-06-02T05:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/1 "2022-06-02T05:23:46Z")
In the NHTSA NCAP #6946 35 MPH crash test with the SRS (including seat belt pretensioner) disabled, the test dummy’s head contacted the steering wheel at 21 MPH. THAT’s TWENTY ONE MILES PER HOUR. THAT’S GETTING CLOSE TO WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY DIE. Even with the airbag working people are bottoming them out and contacting the steering wheel in moderate speed crashes. The seat belt load limiter spooled out so much that the test dummy’s cheast is nearly contacting the steering wheel at the moment when its head makes contact. Source: the middle of page 116, going by the page number at the bottom of the pages, in this document called “Assessing the Effects of Load Limiting Retractors on Occupant Motion”: [http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc15/pdf\_files/21.pdf](http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc15/pdf_files/21.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:44am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/2 "2022-06-02T10:44:51Z")
Well no s$\*t, you disable safety features, you get more serious injuries. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![FoDaddy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/fodaddy/32/717_2.png) [@FoDaddy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/FoDaddy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/3 "2022-06-02T12:10:50Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > THAT’s TWENTY ONE MILES PER HOUR. THAT’S GETTING CLOSE TO WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY DIE. So you’re saying the seat belt could save you still? > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > . The seat belt load limiter spooled out so much that the test dummy’s cheast is nearly contacting the steering wheel at the moment when its head makes contact. Again “nearly”. Seems to me that seatbelt + non-functioning airbag = better than no seat belt + non functioning airbag. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 12:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/4 "2022-06-02T12:24:23Z")
Enough already ! Unless you can provide proof that you are qualified to keep posting this stuff find someplace that might listen to you . All I know is that the seat belt ( with pretensioner ) and steering wheel airbag kept my wife from serious injuries when someone pulled out in front of her . You have become a tiresome amature Troll . ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/5 "2022-06-02T13:29:57Z")
Many cars my parents had when I was a kid didn’t have seatbelts. And the early ones that did only had the lap belt…no shoulder strap. No vehicles had airbags back then. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/6 "2022-06-02T16:01:18Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > Many cars my parents had when I was a kid didn’t have seatbelts. And the early ones that did only had the lap belt…no shoulder strap. No vehicles had airbags back then. Which makes people think that if they wear their seat belt even if the airbag is broken, that they’ll be as well protected as they were driving the car that they drove back in the 80s. They don’t know how wrong they are. > [@](#): > > So you’re saying the seat belt could save you still? It slowed the dummy down to 21.5 MPH instead of about 30 MPH that would have resulted with no seat belt. If the test was done much faster than 35 MPH the person would probably have serious head or brain injury or would die. Crashing in to something at 21 MPH is not a minor injury. > [@](#): > > Enough already ! Unless you can provide proof that you are qualified to keep posting this stuff find someplace that might listen to you . Says Volvo V70, a vehicle which doesn’t have this seat belt load limiter problem. I still find it funny that you indicate that you own or drive one of the few vehicles that has proper safety equipment but you claim this safety stuff is a conspiracy or not true. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/7 "2022-06-02T22:30:25Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > Which makes people think that if they wear their seat belt even if the airbag is broken, that they’ll be as well protected as they were driving the car that they drove back in the 80s. They don’t know how wrong they are. You are WRONG. Airbags are called the SECONDARY restraint system. They are NOT the primary. Seatbelts are the primary. > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > It slowed the dummy down to 21.5 MPH instead of about 30 MPH that would have resulted with no seat belt. If the test was done much faster than 35 MPH the person would probably have serious head or brain injury or would die. Crashing in to something at 21 MPH is not a minor injury. I’ve been in a crash at over 50mph. Long before airbags. Seatbelt and shoulder harness. I walked away without a scratch. Seatbelts are EXTREMELY effective in preventing injury and death. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/8 "2022-06-02T22:41:48Z")
What’s your point? Your comments have nothing to do with the topic of the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/9 "2022-06-02T22:43:49Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > What’s your point? Your comments have nothing to do with the topic of the discussion. I’m responding directly to your statements. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/10 "2022-06-02T22:51:32Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > I’ve been in a crash at over 50mph. Long before airbags. Seatbelt and shoulder harness. I walked away without a scratch. Seatbelts are EXTREMELY effective in preventing injury and death. So you’re agreeing with me that seat belts without load limiters are extremely effective at proventing injury and death, even without an airbag? If you crashed in to a solid object at 50 MPH in a 2010 model year car with a broken airbag you probably would have died. Even with the airbag you would bottom out the airbag and die if you were on the heavy side. But the point here is that having a working airbag is very important, since the seat belt alone is much less effective at protecting you in a crash than it was in the past. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dont-drive-your-car-if-the-airbag-is-not-working-the-load-limited-seat-belt-wont-save-you-anymore/184445/11 "2022-06-03T13:09:57Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > So you’re agreeing with me that seat belts without load limiters are extremely effective at proventing injury and death, even without an airbag? Seatbelts of any kind are effective. Airbags are added protection. Airbags on their own are also very effective.