[log in to unmask] wrote :
<< I saw a chap recently with minor facial
friction burns from a rapidly-expanding air bag in a new Vauxhall.
Better than face/chest versus steering wheel column. I heard somewhere
(maybe on this list) that car manufacturers had increased the speed of
inflation of their airbags, in an attempt to improve safety, but that
the extra speed might be causing a few problems. Don't know if anyone's
keeping stats, but my patient was going to tell General Motors about his
face burn.>>
Thanks for the interesting thread Gautam
As yo say, it's a trade-off between minor heat and friction burns and a
smashed face - the facial burns are well known to manufacturers but there
seems to be no easy solution (after all the bag literally explodes in yer
face !). Some manufacturers have experimented with "smart" bags which deploy
differently in response to different driver/passenger size. As these rely on
a weighing-scale in the seats and a sonar in the dash to measure distance,
they probably won't be found in next year's cinquecento model.
In 1995, some colleagues here reported another part of the air-bag face burn
story - Sodium Hydroxide burns. Some air-bags are powered by Sodium Oxide
propellant, which inconveniently reacts with moisture to create NaOH. The
patient reported by Leung and Lau (HKJEM 1995; 2(1): 44-5) received alkali
burns to the eye (pH was still strongly alkaline in A&E) and thermal burns
to his left hand due to hot gases from the deployment. Interestingly, he was
wearing gloves at the time, which melted at the site of the burn.
The high humidity in Hong Kong probably contributes to the risk of NaOH
burns, but this feature is worth bearing in mind anywhere if patients
complain of skin or eye irritation.
Best wishes Robert Cocks HK
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