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Not a Milsurps subject, but as many of you are contactable more easily on here and look in more frequently perhaps than other mediums, you should be aware of this which came out yesterday does it effect anyone, as they are changing them pretty quickly;):
US probes 4 automakers in new Takata air bag recall
We've been going through this here for some years they have last week realeased further information that a few more thousands of cars here may have issues with pre 2012 airbags as well linked to 1 fatal and 2 serious injuries pays to check the web page our 2 vehicles are safe.
It is generally recommended that Airbag assemblies are replaced every 10 years in service. However due to the cost; very few clients decide to replace them. In some cases you may have problems finding replacement parts for older vehicles.
I had one client want to replace the airbags due to age; the new ones received from the vehicule constructor had the same build year as the originals! So ended up not doing the job.
I have a relatively old European car and if I remember correctly, my car's handbook, warn the driver that if the airbags deploy, in the event of a serious crash, then the occupants of the car may be temporary defended by the pyrotechnic charges which inflate the airbags. I should think that it's just what one needs in the event of a serious crash, if one wasn't alarmed enough, to have pyrotechnic charges exploding under the dash and to be potentially defended, albeit temporally.
An Airbag deployment is not far off a black powder musket or shotgun noise wise. About 15 years ago we had replaced several drivers side airbags for Mitsubishi; (they had issues with the horn button which was built into the airbag ).
We had to set them off before being scrapped. They deflate immediately after inflation and it's possible to get burned by the hot gas released . But they do the job well in a heavy impact!
It has to be an explosion, nothing else would produce the volume of gas quickly enough. Hearing loss is the price you pay.