Do the 95-87 Volvo 850s side airbags NOT protect the head in a side impact?

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Diesel
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The Diesel

I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site
and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be
ONLY a single chamber thorax side airbag.
http://www.terc.org/volvoairbags.html
I had always thought that it was a dual chamber side airbag that
protects the head as well as the torso, but aparently I was wrong, and
I guess only volvos that have side curtain airbags protect the head in
a side impact.
My dad refused to get a 99 S80 even though it was in the budget
allowed because he said it had to be a car that was very close to our
house and there were S80s in his budget about 50 to 100 miles away.
I compromised and had almost settled on the MUCH cheaper 1995 850
Turbo(even though I'm aware of the bad results of the 1998 S70 in the
EuroNCAP front offset crash test and the S70 is basically the same as
the 850 structurally).
I think I may have to go for something like a 1998 Volkswagen Passat
becuase maybe the side airbags on that car may protect the head.
My parents even refuse to let me buy a car with my own money because I
still live with them.
If I could buy a car with my own money, then I'd buy a 2002 Saab-9-5
since it does great in the NHTSA, IIHS, AND EuroNCAP tests for the
driver and has a great injury rate as well.
 
The Diesel said:
I was looking at this pic at the very bottom of this link at this site
and I was surprised that the side airbag on the Volvo 850s seems to be
ONLY a single chamber thorax side airbag.
http://www.terc.org/volvoairbags.html
I had always thought that it was a dual chamber side airbag that
protects the head as well as the torso, but aparently I was wrong, and
I guess only volvos that have side curtain airbags protect the head in
a side impact.
My dad refused to get a 99 S80 even though it was in the budget
allowed because he said it had to be a car that was very close to our
house and there were S80s in his budget about 50 to 100 miles away.
I compromised and had almost settled on the MUCH cheaper 1995 850
Turbo(even though I'm aware of the bad results of the 1998 S70 in the
EuroNCAP front offset crash test and the S70 is basically the same as
the 850 structurally).
I think I may have to go for something like a 1998 Volkswagen Passat
becuase maybe the side airbags on that car may protect the head.
My parents even refuse to let me buy a car with my own money because I
still live with them.
Click to expand...


Regardless of the style of airbags, I think most will agree that a '95 850
is a significantly safer car than a Passat, I know I'd rather be in one. No
amount of airbags can replace a well designed passenger cage.
 
Well the Passat is quite a good car too (unless the 98 is an old style
Passat...) for impacts - VW's are safe cars... But didn't that style of 850
even have a life insurace if you actually died in one?

Also weren't they one of the first cars with the side airbags?

"The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a car... I
think he should be driving an Ambrahms tank.... very safe vehicle. You
wouldn't even feel impacts.
 
Rob Guenther said:
Well the Passat is quite a good car too (unless the 98 is an old style
Passat...) for impacts - VW's are safe cars... But didn't that style of 850
even have a life insurace if you actually died in one?

Also weren't they one of the first cars with the side airbags?

"The Diesel" seems very VERY concerned with his own mortality in a car... I
think he should be driving an Ambrahms tank.... very safe vehicle. You
wouldn't even feel impacts.
Click to expand...

Personally I would say he shouldn't be driving at all, if his own safety is
of such great concern I have to wonder what his thoughts on the safety of
others are.
 
James Sweet said:
car...

Personally I would say he shouldn't be driving at all, if his own safety is
of such great concern I have to wonder what his thoughts on the safety of
others are.
Click to expand...

And I would seriously consider moving out if you cant by a car of your
choice with yr own money..........
 
I
Click to expand...


There is always the option of wearing a helment.

I drive a 1990 745T. It has a driver's side airbag only. If the damn thing
deploys, I'm going to put in a '89 steering wheel w/o the airbag and keep
rolling. I feel that I would be safer in an older brick w/o an airbag, than
many newer smaller cars with airbags all around. The most important thing
about an accident is to avoid it in the first place. But, it's his money and
his parents decision. Just my .02.

Rolling down the road in my 1990 745T, 260K miles.

BTW, before I started driving Volvos, I totaled 3 other cars, so I know a
little bit about accidents from practical experience. The main thing I have
noticed is that when I started driving my first Volvo, a 1975 245, other
drivers on the road gave me MUCH more respect on the road. I am NEVER more
afraid than when driving a friends Mitsi Mirage to the corner store.
 
Volvo's give you that "king of the road" type feeling, lesser cars flee from
the left hand lane and such... They're good.

I'm thinking, new S40 next year.... but maybe I should save my money and get
a T-5 850, I hope there are some un-violated ones out there. Kinda want a 4
year warranty and 10 years out of the car tho...
 
R51reed said:
There is always the option of wearing a helment.

I drive a 1990 745T. It has a driver's side airbag only. If the damn thing
deploys, I'm going to put in a '89 steering wheel w/o the airbag and keep
rolling. I feel that I would be safer in an older brick w/o an airbag, than
many newer smaller cars with airbags all around. The most important thing
about an accident is to avoid it in the first place. But, it's his money and
his parents decision. Just my .02.

Rolling down the road in my 1990 745T, 260K miles.

BTW, before I started driving Volvos, I totaled 3 other cars, so I know a
little bit about accidents from practical experience. The main thing I have
noticed is that when I started driving my first Volvo, a 1975 245, other
drivers on the road gave me MUCH more respect on the road. I am NEVER more
afraid than when driving a friends Mitsi Mirage to the corner store.
Click to expand...

For the really safety obsessed there's always the full roll cage, 5 point
harness and a helmet. How many race cars have you seen that have airbags?
I've seen videos of dozens of high speed crashes in rally races, most of the
time the driver walks away.
 
Rob Guenther said:
Volvo's give you that "king of the road" type feeling, lesser cars flee from
the left hand lane and such... They're good.

I'm thinking, new S40 next year.... but maybe I should save my money and get
a T-5 850, I hope there are some un-violated ones out there. Kinda want a 4
year warranty and 10 years out of the car tho...
Click to expand...

I'd definitly go for the 850 T5, the S40 just doesn't do it for me, just
doesn't feel like a Volvo. I'd love to have a T5-R wagon but those don't
grow on trees, and as you say, it's hard to find one that hasn't been
abused.
 
James Sweet said:
Regardless of the style of airbags, I think most will agree that a '95 850
is a significantly safer car than a Passat, I know I'd rather be in one. No
amount of airbags can replace a well designed passenger cage.
Click to expand...

I myself would put the Passat in the same league as the 850/S70 in
terms of safety.
They have pretty similar injury rates and while the S70s do better
than the Passat in side impacts, the Passats seem to do better in
front and front offset crashes than the S70/850, and the Passats also
actually have to have a stronger safety cage in the front offset test.
The thing I'm afraid of is that I don't think that 1998-2000 Passats
have head protecting Side Air Bags either, I think they probably just
have torso protecting Thorax Side Airbags just like the 1995 850 to
the 1998 S70.
If I remember correctly, I think the 99 S70 was the first car in the
850/S70 series that had a dual chamber side airbag that protected both
the torso and the head. The IIHS website had info on which cars had
HEAD PROTECTING side airbags on models as early as 2001, but
unfortunately it had no info on years earlier than that.
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/side_airbag_01_02.htm#
Sometimes you find pics on the net of the side airbags in action, an
that's how I know for example that all Town Cars from 1999 onwards
have HEAD PROTECTING side airbags.
http://www.hwysafety.org/news_releases/1999/pr040699.htm

The pic at the bottom also shows that 1998 and later BMW 5 series have
head protecting side head airbags as well.
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/96029.htm

Unfortunately I couldn't find any info or pics on the 1998/1999 Passat
on if their side airbags protect the head or not.
I know that the 2001 and later Passats have Side Curtain Airbags that
protect the heads as well as seat mounted side thorax airbags.
If I were to take a guess, I'd say that just like the 850, the
1998-2000 Passats just have side THORAX airbags that don't protect the
head.
I wonder how much it would cost have the SIPS Bag system of the 1999
S70 installed into an old 95 Volvo 850.

I just wish I could see a video clip of an inside view of a side
impact crash test of an 850 equipped with SIPS bags since that would
help me determine if the it would be worth it to get an 850 or go for
something else.
I've seen a whole bunch of video clips of side impact crash test as
well as side impact poll tests, and the most impressive I've ever seen
was the poll test of the 1999 S80.
I mean it was incredible how much more gentle the "bounce" of the head
off of the side curtain airbag was compared to all the other crash
videos I had seen of other cars.
 
I think being 20 something 5-10 years ago would have been much better then
it is now.... There were a lot more cars that I would have liked to have,
now they are all too old with too many KMs on them (VW Corrado new or 1 year
old, 850 T-5... used one, 2-3 years old - off lease) I don't really like any
of the cars in the $30K range, other then the new S40, the new Golf 5 (only
in Europe now), and the Mini Cooper S (too damn small tho)... everything
else is too much money.
 
Get the S80 then... what did the 1998 S90 have? Did they ever fit it with
side airbags? Our 93' has SIPS and 2 airbags, really good for a car that
old. 4 star side and 5 star front I think.
 
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