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Car Forum / Volvo Cars / August 2004Do the 95-87 Volvo 850s side airbags NOT protect the head in a side impact?
I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be ONLY a single chamber thorax side airbag. http://www.terc.org/volvoairbags.html I had always thought that it was a dual chamber side airbag that protects the head as well as the torso, but aparently I was wrong, and I guess only volvos that have side curtain airbags protect the head in a side impact. My dad refused to get a 99 S80 even though it was in the budget allowed because he said it had to be a car that was very close to our house and there were S80s in his budget about 50 to 100 miles away. I compromised and had almost settled on the MUCH cheaper 1995 850 Turbo(even though I'm aware of the bad results of the 1998 S70 in the EuroNCAP front offset crash test and the S70 is basically the same as the 850 structurally). I think I may have to go for something like a 1998 Volkswagen Passat becuase maybe the side airbags on that car may protect the head. My parents even refuse to let me buy a car with my own money because I still live with them. If I could buy a car with my own money, then I'd buy a 2002 Saab-9-5 since it does great in the NHTSA, IIHS, AND EuroNCAP tests for the driver and has a great injury rate as well. > I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site > and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > My parents even refuse to let me buy a car with my own money because I > still live with them. Regardless of the style of airbags, I think most will agree that a '95 850 is a significantly safer car than a Passat, I know I'd rather be in one. No amount of airbags can replace a well designed passenger cage. Well the Passat is quite a good car too (unless the 98 is an old style Passat...) for impacts - VW's are safe cars... But didn't that style of 850 even have a life insurace if you actually died in one? Also weren't they one of the first cars with the side airbags? "The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a car... I think he should be driving an Ambrahms tank.... very safe vehicle. You wouldn't even feel impacts. >> I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site >> and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > No > amount of airbags can replace a well designed passenger cage. > Well the Passat is quite a good car too (unless the 98 is an old style > Passat...) for impacts - VW's are safe cars... But didn't that style of 850 [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > think he should be driving an Ambrahms tank.... very safe vehicle. You > wouldn't even feel impacts. Personally I would say he shouldn't be driving at all, if his own safety is of such great concern I have to wonder what his thoughts on the safety of others are. > > Well the Passat is quite a good car too (unless the 98 is an old style > > Passat...) for impacts - VW's are safe cars... But didn't that style of [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > of such great concern I have to wonder what his thoughts on the safety of > others are. And I would seriously consider moving out if you cant by a car of your choice with yr own money.......... << > > "The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a car... > I > > think he should be driving an Ambrahms tank.... very safe vehicle. You > > wouldn't even feel impacts. >> There is always the option of wearing a helment. I drive a 1990 745T. It has a driver's side airbag only. If the damn thing deploys, I'm going to put in a '89 steering wheel w/o the airbag and keep rolling. I feel that I would be safer in an older brick w/o an airbag, than many newer smaller cars with airbags all around. The most important thing about an accident is to avoid it in the first place. But, it's his money and his parents decision. Just my .02. Rolling down the road in my 1990 745T, 260K miles. BTW, before I started driving Volvos, I totaled 3 other cars, so I know a little bit about accidents from practical experience. The main thing I have noticed is that when I started driving my first Volvo, a 1975 245, other drivers on the road gave me MUCH more respect on the road. I am NEVER more afraid than when driving a friends Mitsi Mirage to the corner store. Volvo's give you that "king of the road" type feeling, lesser cars flee from the left hand lane and such... They're good. I'm thinking, new S40 next year.... but maybe I should save my money and get a T-5 850, I hope there are some un-violated ones out there. Kinda want a 4 year warranty and 10 years out of the car tho... > << > > "The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a > car... [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > more > afraid than when driving a friends Mitsi Mirage to the corner store. > Volvo's give you that "king of the road" type feeling, lesser cars flee from > the left hand lane and such... They're good. > > I'm thinking, new S40 next year.... but maybe I should save my money and get > a T-5 850, I hope there are some un-violated ones out there. Kinda want a 4 > year warranty and 10 years out of the car tho... I'd definitly go for the 850 T5, the S40 just doesn't do it for me, just doesn't feel like a Volvo. I'd love to have a T5-R wagon but those don't grow on trees, and as you say, it's hard to find one that hasn't been abused. I think being 20 something 5-10 years ago would have been much better then it is now.... There were a lot more cars that I would have liked to have, now they are all too old with too many KMs on them (VW Corrado new or 1 year old, 850 T-5... used one, 2-3 years old - off lease) I don't really like any of the cars in the $30K range, other then the new S40, the new Golf 5 (only in Europe now), and the Mini Cooper S (too damn small tho)... everything else is too much money. >> Volvo's give you that "king of the road" type feeling, lesser cars flee > from [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > grow on trees, and as you say, it's hard to find one that hasn't been > abused. > << > > "The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a > car... [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > drivers on the road gave me MUCH more respect on the road. I am NEVER more > afraid than when driving a friends Mitsi Mirage to the corner store. For the really safety obsessed there's always the full roll cage, 5 point harness and a helmet. How many race cars have you seen that have airbags? I've seen videos of dozens of high speed crashes in rally races, most of the time the driver walks away. > > I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site > > and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > is a significantly safer car than a Passat, I know I'd rather be in one. No > amount of airbags can replace a well designed passenger cage. I myself would put the Passat in the same league as the 850/S70 in terms of safety. They have pretty similar injury rates and while the S70s do better than the Passat in side impacts, the Passats seem to do better in front and front offset crashes than the S70/850, and the Passats also actually have to have a stronger safety cage in the front offset test. The thing I'm afraid of is that I don't think that 1998-2000 Passats have head protecting Side Air Bags either, I think they probably just have torso protecting Thorax Side Airbags just like the 1995 850 to the 1998 S70. If I remember correctly, I think the 99 S70 was the first car in the 850/S70 series that had a dual chamber side airbag that protected both the torso and the head. The IIHS website had info on which cars had HEAD PROTECTING side airbags on models as early as 2001, but unfortunately it had no info on years earlier than that. http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/side_airbag_01_02.htm# Sometimes you find pics on the net of the side airbags in action, an that's how I know for example that all Town Cars from 1999 onwards have HEAD PROTECTING side airbags. http://www.hwysafety.org/news_releases/1999/pr040699.htm The pic at the bottom also shows that 1998 and later BMW 5 series have head protecting side head airbags as well. http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/96029.htm Unfortunately I couldn't find any info or pics on the 1998/1999 Passat on if their side airbags protect the head or not. I know that the 2001 and later Passats have Side Curtain Airbags that protect the heads as well as seat mounted side thorax airbags. If I were to take a guess, I'd say that just like the 850, the 1998-2000 Passats just have side THORAX airbags that don't protect the head. I wonder how much it would cost have the SIPS Bag system of the 1999 S70 installed into an old 95 Volvo 850. I just wish I could see a video clip of an inside view of a side impact crash test of an 850 equipped with SIPS bags since that would help me determine if the it would be worth it to get an 850 or go for something else. I've seen a whole bunch of video clips of side impact crash test as well as side impact poll tests, and the most impressive I've ever seen was the poll test of the 1999 S80. I mean it was incredible how much more gentle the "bounce" of the head off of the side curtain airbag was compared to all the other crash videos I had seen of other cars. Get the S80 then... what did the 1998 S90 have? Did they ever fit it with side airbags? Our 93' has SIPS and 2 airbags, really good for a car that old. 4 star side and 5 star front I think. >> > I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site >> > and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > off of the side curtain airbag was compared to all the other crash > videos I had seen of other cars. |
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