The Sound of an Airbag Deploying Is 160 dB. What Can One Do?

I was shocked to discover that air bags are unacceptably loud (160 dB). On this site, there is at least one report of someone getting their T as a result of an air bag. There are more reports in the comments of the source of that 160dB statistic:
http://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearinginternational/2012/the-international-threat-of-air-bags/

Is there a way to increase the threshold at which an air bag would deploy (to ensure that it happens only during a life threatening accident, and not during a fender-bender)? Are there airbags out there that are quieter? If this is not possible, is it the case that any mechanic can disable air bags in one's car? Can I do this myself? Once an air bag is disabled, is it easy to enable it again?

I feel so stupid - I went out of my way to buy a car that has air bags everywhere. (That was before my acoustic trauma.) Peltor muffs + earplugs won't be able to offer much protection against 160 dB...

 

No some people here have disabled them. I am considering the same, it is possible but don't know how exactly.

@Foncky

 

I don't think it's a good idea to disable a potential life saving device such as an airbag, and it might be illegal to do so in some countries. My car has 10 airbags and I would never disable them.

 

Drive safe!!!

 

You will be just fine @Bill Bauer Give it time for your acoustic trauma to settle down in the way that you are doing or seek treatment with a Hearing Therapist. Try not let paranoia and fear from members in this forum dissuade your better judgment.
Take care
Michael

 

Interesting paper at the link on otologic injuries from airbags.

Says for people wearing seat belts, airbags reduce fatalities by 9 to 16 percent. If I had the choice about airbags, I think I would rather wear a seat belt, go without airbags, preserve my hearing, drive as carefully and defensively as possible, and take my chances with the elevated odds of problems without airbags if get into an accident.

http://www.michiganear.com/webdocuments/Airbag-Deployment-Study.pdf

 

That's your opinion, I disagree. With a 160 db sound I am sure I will suffer severe hearing loss (given my current loss) + unbearable T and maybe also H. So I am willing to take the risk of driving without airbags .

Everyone has to decide for themselves and I know that if I would disable the airbag many people will criticize but I feel that for me, it's the right decision.

 

I understand everyones fear but to me having another life changing event plus tinnitus is not going to make anything better.

 

I disabled my air bags by just removing the fuses called "airbags" DUH,,, I did that when I got the care in 2008.

I figure, if they went off and increased my tinnitus and or caused me more hearing loss that I would rather be dead anyway, so no loss their that's just how I feel about it. I feel the same about smoke detectors, I took them out of my house 15 years ago too. I do live on the ground level, and my bed is right next to sliding doors I could walk right out if I needed to. I'm a light sleeper. I know what people will say what about smoke, I really believe that I would wake up I could not breath, and just get out the sliding doors.

I'm still considering putting in some new smoke detectors that would warm me in another way, maybe a bright flashing light like they use for deaf people. Or hook it to something that would make my bed vibrate or something LOL ...


Louie

Quietatnight

PS: @Bill Bauer

I really kind of doubt that a sonic toothbrush was what gave you tinnitus ? But I guess anything is possible. I use my electric shaver every day and it was no effect on my tinnitus or hearing.

 

Big thread about this: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/deactivating-automotive-airbags.17982/

 

I agree.

 

Thanks! Before creating this thread, I did a search, and somehow didn't see that thread.

 

The brush was in contact with the opening of my ear canal for a fraction of a second... This happened four months ago, on January 22. I started to experience that "full ear" sensation right away. I saw an audiologist and did a hearing test on February 2. My T began in the evening of that day...

 

I might have less tinnitus if I hadn't had airbags deploy, but I'd almost certainly be brain damaged or worse.

risk : reward

 

did you actually get hearing loss from it? Isn't a hair clipper louder ?

 

I am considering taking them off now, I am worried about accidental deployment as well.

 

No hearing loss detected by an audiologist. But it is my understanding that these hearing tests are inaccurate - they can't measure the loss of the ability to make out sounds mixed with many other sounds at loud events.

I think the brush hurt my inner ear by sending a sound wave through the bone. The sound was uncomfortably loud, but it wasn't even THAT loud. Initially, I wasn't worried. I certainly didn't expect ending up with consequences lasting a lifetime...

 

Indeed, and the correct one for any right thinking person.
Michael

 

Man, I'm sorry to say that, but that's rude and terribly ostentatious.

I won't repeat my story here, did it enough. You know this story and it should give you some perspective about the personal decisions we have to make sometimes.

 

One is entitled to interpret what I've said in anyway that they choose. Just for the record, my intention was never to convey what you believe.
Michael

 

Won't insurance be invalidated if you disconnect the airbags?

 

what insurance ? maybe the extra auto insurance option which pays your own medical bill in case of an accident but a regular national health insurance will cover injuries anyway.


For people my age who learned driving and spent all their young and wild years driving cars with no factory airbags - this decision is not a huge deal.

And still far safer than a motorcycle with helmet

Drive safely

 

I pay only for third-party liability (insurance for people in the other car).

 

We all get a little bit paranoia, so do I, but deactivating your airbag doesn't seem a smart idea. Either way, if you get in a crash then that initial crash will cause some unwanted noise too.

So overall your perfect choice would be to stop using your car all together. I'm also looking out for my ears but I'm not going to deactivate my airbags.

 

At least that noise will not be generated so close to your ears...

 

Many people here will ride their bicycle in a busy city center without wearing a helmet but will laugh at you when you deactivate your airbags.

Quite funny. Acting "smart" and "safe" is really a subjective matter, huh.

 

I'm gonna be seriously surprised if any of the people disabling their airbags have ever been injured in a bad car accident, but to each their own.

Of course, I do ride a motorcycle, too.

 

Have your ears been seriously injured by something similar to an airbag or an actual airbag ? I would be surprised if you didn't disable yours then.

 

Yup, summer before my initial onset I was in a wreck where the airbags deployed. Both in spite of and because of that experience I think it would be madness to disable airbags.

 

So your initial onset is due to airbags ?