University of Extrication Ron Moore's University of Extrication is the online home for training tips, news and information pertaining to vehicle extrication and rescue.
I have mentioned in the seminars I present that the most common location for stored gas airbag inflators for roof airbag systems is on or near the C-post of the vehicle. This information may be right if you look at the just four-door sedan vehicles only.
My friend Jorg Heck, who works for Moditech, the company that creates the Crash Recovery System software, believes that the most common location nowadays is horizontal along the roof-rail, directly above or slightly behind the B-pillar.
Jorg states that one very simple reason for this center location is that the inflator module can directly dump its’ pressurized gas into the airbag without the need for a filler tube. This is therefore a less expensive design to put in a vehicle.
So what does this mean for First Responders? It justifies why we say that we must strip the trim away at each and every point in the structure of a roof when we are performing extrications. Whether you are totally removing the roof or just cutting and flipping part of the roof away from the patient, make sure every cut is clear of the stored gas inflators.
Strip the Trim at Each & Every Cut!
The image below is provided by Mercedes-Benz in their Guidelines for Rescue Services Passenger Cars training manual, 2010 edition. I selected it because this is the model car I personally drive. You can see the stored gas inflator in the pale blue box along the roof rail slightly behind the B-pillar. It’s actually a good location if you are doing total roof removal. It’s right in the way though if you are “flipping” the roof for example.
The other items in this Mercedes safety bulletin are the starter battery(yellow box under hood), airbags(Driver front, driver side, knee bags, and rear passenger side shown), seatbelt pretensioners, (red boxes), fuel tank(pale green/blue by rear tire), and the second battery in the trunk wheel well(yellow box in trunk area). The pale blue/green B-pillar is the Boron steel location for this Mercedes sedan.
