the usable life of air bags

[Da TOW'D]

Howdy,
There is 26 years on my 1999 Winnebago Eurovan.
How long do those air bags remain useful, do they have a life span?
The idea of them is great but if they are too old to work would it be better to disconnect them- or just leave them be.
thanks for your thoughts
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'57 type 1 Blackberry
'58 SC Ruf
'62 type 3 Notch
'92 Eurovan Willy
'99 Eurovan Winnie
and NUTS

[67rustavenger]

Draw your own conclusions from this article,
https://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/do-car-airbags-expire.html

Me? I'll take my chances that the air bags in my 2003 EV are gonna at least help if they ever come into play while I'm driving.

FWIW, in 1982 I rear ended a Dasher at 35 mph in a beetle.
I only got a small cut on my right hand and a goose egg on my forehead. Obviously, there was no air bag to keep me safe.
YMMV
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[Da TOW'D]

Thanks for that
I'll let the air bags stay and hope to never need to test them, that is the ECU's job
cheers
Hank
_________________
'57 type 1 Blackberry
'58 SC Ruf
'62 type 3 Notch
'92 Eurovan Willy
'99 Eurovan Winnie
and NUTS

[SambaBurnsRed]

Good question. I figure its the igniter "shelf life" that is the issue. So depends on what is used back in 1997-2003. I know early Porsche airbags (1993 GTS) were noted to replace after 10 or 15 years.

It probably will still blow, but you might not get full force out of it, if the explosive material has degraded. The only way to know is test one out of a parts car, ps looked for OEM new and looks like all discontinued.

[jjvincent]

We had a customer in a 2007 Saturn (the same thing as whatever GM rebadged at the time) and this is what happened to her. The airbags went off, drivers side never fired and the passenger, did buy just a bunch of yellow dust blew out on the floor.

Yet a customer with a 2005 LeSabre, it blew both off and they worked. Yet he used duct taps and just taped everything over, fixed the front and kept driving.

[Abscate]

Volvo used to punch code them for 10 year life , then relaxed thst to “ life of car”

I’ve blown off 25 year old ones that all worked great. Maybe 15-20. So still sparse data, but there you are
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