Alexs '05

I know it's not really mechanically related, but still...


Last night I was dumb, got greedy, ended up bashing my front end pretty good.

I've fixed most of the damage, but now I'm left with a radiator support that has the lower beam bent 2 inches back, and 1 inch upwards.

What I'm wondering, is if I remove the radiator, airbox, and the a/c unit, and hammer the support back, do you think the vibrations will deploy the airbags?

I've already bent the bumper back in shape, cleaned the rub marks off (minus 4 deep cuts), but now I'm left with this part of my "rebuild"....not to mention the 5-6 gravel stones stuck inbetween my left-rear tire and rim when I was skidding sideways before impact.


anyways, probably gonna continue in about 15 minutes so quick responses welcome

SpitfireS

It is recommended to disconnect and remove the SRS-unit.
My service manual is Dutch so you'll have to look-up the specifics in your own language before using the hammer.
Better safe then sorry.

slalom44

'Sorry to hear about your front end. Bummer.

The SRS unit measures "deceleration" of the vehicle, not vibrations to deploy the airbags. This unit is located behind the dash just right of the steering wheel. It can deploy with the power on and up to 3 minutes after turning the power off, but the airbags cannot deploy with the power off otherwise.

To be safe you could disconnect the SRS unit or just disconnect the battery before pounding away.

Alexs '05

I was suprised it didn't go off when I hit that stupid thing in the guys front yard, but I'm guessing it's the unit under the left headlight and I hit moreso towards the center/right.

There's no timer or anything with the battery right? I thought I heard some cars airbags still stay active for a certain amount of time after the battery has been disconnected.

Thanks for the input guys...about to go down there

Alexs '05

i smell like coolant
took me 2 hours to get that stupid radiator out

now it's time for the a/c unit thing, and onto the banging part

Alexs '05

From last night


Looks a lot better today, the new pics (camera, not phone) will be up later when I'm done


We decided we're gonna take the grinder to it, cut the one support off, pound it out on the ground, and straighten the vertical support by hand.

viper_driver

I agree with slalom. I just did some work on my SRS system. There's no sensor of any kind in the front of the vehicle. Only accelerometers in the SRS ECU which sits just beneath the radio. The bags can't deploy when the car's off. If you somehow crashed with the car off, the SRS ECU would probably be trashed since it's one use only, but the bags still wouldn't deploy. You'd probably have a constant SRS light and the fault code would be 10-1 meaning the initiators had fired and the brain needed to be replaced.

Good luck,
JASON

SpitfireS

After disconnecting the SRS unit from power (contact off and (-) negative power from battery disconnected) you have to wait another 3 minutes according to the service manual.

slalom44 Posted on Jan 7 2007, 05:07 PM
A direct hit on the SRS-unit with a hammer or simular or a hit on the dashboard support structure in the vicinity of the SRS-unit might set off the airbags when the SRS-unit it's still "armed".

Slows2k

You can set of the bags using an impact wrench removing or installing the SRS unit. You can also deploy them if the ignition is off. The SRS unit has capacitors that store enough power to deploy the bags and belt tensioners.

Slows2k

Not True