nice safety tip!

Greetings,

An intersting story about the cop, but unfortunately it's not as believable
when you look into the facts on side impact airbag design.  First and
foremost, the wiring and impact sensors are not located in the doors for
this very reason among others, including the possibility of setting off your
side impact airbags if you slam your door too hard!  The sensors are located
on the frame and any wiring is run up through the side pillars where they
are completely inaccessible to any common tool you could use to "jimmy" a
door lock.  And unless the car was running or the officer tried to pick the
lock less than approx. 30 minutes after it was shut off then there wouldn't
be any power whatsoever to the bags to make them go off.

You can add into the story any series of "what-if's" you like (like prior
damage, car in an accident, etc.), but just routinely trying to pick your
lock to open the door cannot set off your airbags unless there are other
possibly extraordinary circumstances involved.

Twenty years in fire-rescue has given me a great respect for the potential
danger of certain automotive systems like airbags (and seatbelt
pre-tensioners, some of which use small explosive charges or compressed
gas), but you have to be realistic in knowing how and why these systems
work.

Cheers - Jonathan