Blue S2

I have airbags and have wondered about this. Should i replace them with new ones? Will they still deploy in an accident at this age if they are original? Would it be better to just take them out?

Dsalillas

I can attest to the fact that mine didn't work. I hit a tree head on at about 35 mph. It folded the bumper, creased the hood and pulled both the fenders towards the center. Neither of the airbags went off.

Devildog2067

It says right in the owners manuals of all new cars that the front airbags may not deploy if you hit a narrow object like a tree or pole, rear-end a truck and slide underneath it, or roll your car.

horsepowerfarm

Rally Guy,
You have PM.

AndyK

I guess it's a good thing that nobody has hit a wide object with their airbag-equipped 944's recently! Pretty damned useless if you can hit a tree head-on and get zero airbags!

There is a whole community on the web of anti-airbag (or, as they call them, air-bomb) people. They claim they do more harm than good, and should be removed from all cars, etc. I guess that's the extreme side, but I think as long as they cant explode for no reason...leaving well enough alone works here.

You would figure if the wiring went bad due to age or corrosion, a warning light would come on or something?

IceShark

I believe the airbag does a self test on startup so one would think bad wiring would trigger the warning light. I would bet the culprit is the two sensors that trigger firing crapping out.

Those sensors have always been tricky for manufactuters getting right when they are new, much less when they are 15 years old. They need to go off fast enough to be of any use yet not fire when you hit the curb at 3 mph like some cars were doing.

jason952

on a related note, are you able to put 996 colored belts in our cars? What is the life of a nylon belt?

944S2NUT

I called weissach about this issue, and he said he has never seen an issue with porsche airbages in all his time working with these cars.

Mighty Shilling

I had my airbags checked by the dealer a month after I got my car. they said it's good.

shiners780

How do they "check" airbags?

harrisonrick

IIRC the early generation airbags are "harder" on you when deployed than the newer ones. Like anything, they have improved them over time and testing.

I'd say the thing that would most likely cause them to either fail or deploy suddenly are the triggers in those sensors up front. They are likely to have some corrosion over the years.

A friend of mine got sideswiped in an older Crown Vic...late 90's...he got "burns" on his face from the airbag going off.

JonH

I thought airbags have gold plated contacts/plugs to prevent corrosion. Unless your driving a Katrina car around, I can't believe corrosion is going to cause a bag to pop. Anyone know for sure?

Jim_K

I also had my airbags not deploy on my 89 944S2, I hit armco at the side of the track during a DE at a good enough speed to total the car. No deployment.

There was a slight angle of impact so maybe that had something to do with it, but I don't think so.

RDL

We had the drivers side airbag in a 944 randomly deploy at a DE. The driver hit a pretty good bump and POW out came the air bag.