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When NOT to honk (airbag injury pics)

idrivejunk

New member
This thread is just an FYI general safety reminder for all, in any vehicle... hopefully it is convincing and you'll remember about airbag hazards.

I saw a person pull out in front of me last Monday so reached for the horn. Turns out it wasn't a close call but a direct hit. Blew both airbags in my 99 GTP.

This is what an average sized man's arm will look like a week after being hit by the airbag. No broken bones! Thumb was hyperextended, wrist badly and immediately swollen beyond use. If you look closely you can see where the bruise covered my thumb from the knuckle down. Returned to work after a week but really wasn't ready. Make no mistake, this was/is really painful. I am regaining usage of the arm, Anyway, as you see in the second pic, the bruise went all the way through the soft tissue to the other side of my arm. Either that or I caught a piece of the passenger bag too. The really dark part of the bruise is where the damn medic was jamming his thumb into my forearm while applying a splint for the wrist, on-scene. I wanted to slap him and about every other person involved since.

This is not something you want. If somebody cuts you off, yeah beep. If you think you might actually be about to crash, thats when NOT to honk.

I am a long-time crash fixin bodyman and I have never agreed with airbags, much less making the horn button into an explosive and impulsive weapon. All you need is your seatbelt. NEVER skip that.

These pics were right after I unbandaged and soaked in cold water, went outside for the light so chicken skin. Just don't let this be you. The "day of" pic was kinda grotesque as far as swelling, so I figured I'd wait a week and post this.

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Today was the first time I opened a plastic beverage bottle without pliers. And yep I'm right handed what a drag. Shouldn't need a lawyer, I'm not at fault and my ins co of 35 years now has taken good care of me many times. This is my first substantial injury claim though. Only trouble is GTPs are worth maybe a cheeseburger apiece so I may get semi-hosed on the car itself. No matter, I'll cut the blown bags out and put a windshield in it. Looks like the front bumper will go right back on but I'll need a headlight. W-bodies are much tougher than me, the structure seems OK from initial topside measuring.

About using the horn... I never used to. Heck, this is probably the first car I've had with one that works. But I commute in a might-as-well-be-combat zone. Lots of drivers from other parts of the country move here, clueless about the "suicide" turn lanes we have so many of. After two years of swerving, slamming brakes, and generally being terrorized by traffic, I changed my defaults to steer straight and honk. Time to once again revise my driving tactics, traffic is amping up the game.
 
I thought that bruise looked like a Challenger... but they are all drive by wire so thats out. The GP pile is awful deep already, maybe what I need is mods? I just hate to fix anything up, it seems the world has a "niceness" limit on me.
 


Glad your ok. A girl I used to work with got into an accident and she had her left hand in the 11 or 12 o clock position on the steering wheel and when the air bag went off it slammed her elbow through the drivers side window shattering her elbow.
 
Aw man thats awful. Its messed up that keeping your hands on the wheel causes such injury. The person(s) who wrote the algorythm or whatever, in the SIR computer, missed reality by a mile. Probably did the best they could with the parameters they were given but my car basically self-destructed due to a light hit. The seatbelts in these cars are great though, if you have the "coupe loops". I guess I can say that to the positive. But so are the ones in any 73-up domestic car.
 


The comments are helping me shift from grumpin to counting my blessings, thanks gents. I'm hangin loose, letting the ins co do their thing. Tomorrow it will be a week since they looked at my ride. Ima blip they radar lol. The other vehicle was a short 99 Ranger, no pic. Busted his rear u-joint, for starters. I nearly was stopped. Heres my GTP, it jettisoned the front cover. Check out dude's tailpipe mark next to my tag cover- his wheel hit right on the end of my unibody lower rail, hence the pop.

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Thats my wrecked 99 GT in the background, don't mind the Karmann Ghia. Speaking of background... it was smashed on R side in Jan '13 by an illegal in a Focus. Then cut off by a Highlander on R fender/wheel in June. Then in July, knocked over a curb and off the road by a CX-9. Killed er so to speak, I got it where it kinda drives now with no fender. I replaced that with a 40th GTP coupe, 135K miles. Didn't have it long enuf to change oil... had a shop rebuild the trans then I flipped it in November. De-stroyed it, think I had a tire problem in a curve. The year 2014 was uneventful except for a dump truck not holding his brake at a redlight and smushing my GTP's rear bumper in December I think. Now this. Don't get me started on what happened to my old RWD Grand Prixs...

My airbag experience could have been much worse, thanks for some perspective.
 
i have a few stories that will make you hurt after i tell you them lol. so i wont tell them they didnt happen to me just a few family members.
 
I did for a year or two when I was like 13 and 14. Fortunately I learned all my lessons on dirt roads. Arguably as unforgiving as asphalt, but i learned real quick that I wanted no part of bikes. There was one life-threatening screw up that stands out, trying to climb with a street bike is a no-no. As an adult I have seen some bike carnage first hand that confirms my non-bike-havin. Think I watched a guy die when I stopped at a redlight, in a wreck on the cross street. He had just got sandwiched before I pulled up and looked like he bled out before the light turned. that was bizarre. No bikes for me.
 
i have a few stories that will make you hurt after i tell you them lol. so i wont tell them they didnt happen to me just a few family members.

Reckon I'm guilty of tellin carnage tales just now. I'll stop. Didn't mean for this to turn into that really. That shattered elbow thing made me wince though... manoman.
 


Thats an interesting piece of high dollar gear, Bill. I use a car wash bucket. My tolerance for the cold is pretty low. I have found elevation to be key, and the bruise changes with every round of heat. Yesterday I plain overdid it at work, uh-oh. Put together an Edge crash job, pushing and pulling on panels and clips. Also worked a quarter/bumper dent on a gen5 Camaro SS. Cost me 2-3 days worth of healing progress just below the thumb, but I'm kickin it at the house til Monday now. Bucket ahoy!

Since its gonna get boring over here, let me count left handed...

68 Malibu, 88 S-10, 75 Grand Prix, 71 Ventura II (twice), 76 El Camino, 99 Grand Prix GT (three times), 99 GTP <<< People ran into all of these with me driving. The S-10 was a work truck in like '90 so no total on that but the rest were mine. But thats nine total losses in my life, think about it. Plus I rolled the 40th and that one was on me. It IS crazy but I assure you guys that I don't have a crash fetish and the fact that I fix car bodies for a living is coincidental. Sometimes thats handy, though.

The only time another vehicle made contact with my 69 GP while I've owned it was a lady who was slow on the clutch at a redlight and rolled back to tap my bumper. Little Toymotor pickup, and I chased her down with vengeance then let her slide after a peek. Bumper was in primer at the time. Perhaps this ranty whining all helps explain my user name.

edit: there was also a 67 Impala I drove to college, forgot that one. No total, no damage really. I got sandwiched on the Airport Freeway and I believe the Ford truck behind me needed a whole front end the Honda in front had a flattened rearend. I had scratched chrome only. There were three other times people ran into the 75 GP that I forgot also, no claims though. Sheesh.
 
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