TSA reminds airline passengers to leave automotive airbags at home

Michael Harley — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:28:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a governmental agency tasked with securing all modes of transportation in the U.S., has noticed an increase of airline passengers traveling with airbags - yes, the government-mandated inflatable safety devices that reside in our vehicles to keep us from impacting the steering wheel, dashboard and side pillars in a crash. While airbags are pricey commodities on the secondary market in the States, they are worth even more overseas says the TSA. Looking to save a few bucks, dim-witted passengers are packing the airbags in their checked baggage and carry-on luggage to avoid the legal (but complicated) shipping procedures.

As a refresher, the typical automotive airbag is quite the explosive little bundle - it does not make a great travel companion. Packed tightly within its protective covering is the folded nylon airbag - but that's the inert part. A tiny igniter sits poised behind the bag waiting for the signal to set off the solid propellant (think Space Shuttle SRB). When it goes, a large volume of nitrogen gas is released at about 200 mph - the bag is fully expanded in about 1/25 of a second (it will knock your peanuts clear to first class, if you were wondering).

Common knowledge says these things simply don't blow by themselves - it takes a 12-volt charge to set airbags off (don't try it at home, kids). In any case, the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Security and Hazardous Materials has added airbag actuators to the list of non-approved hazardous materials. The TSA wants to remind everyone to ship the "hazmat" airbags via the proper channels - do not bring them with you on a commercial airliner.

[Source: Transportation Safety Administration, Photo by TSA]

TSA reminds airline passengers to leave automotive airbags at home originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

"Road rage" may be result of mental illness

Eric Bryant — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 18:59:00 EST

Filed under: Etc.

A recently-released study by the National Institute for Mental Health claims that five to seven percent of the population - perhaps up to 16 million Americans - suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), or what could be colloquially referred to as "road rage syndrome".

Symptoms of IED include multiple bouts of anger that are out of proportion to the situation and which include a threat of violence or actual aggressive action towards a person or property. Said to be related to improper functioning of serotonin in the brain, the average age of onset is 14, with an average of 43 outbursts over one's lifetime. For what it's worth, we suffered from at least that many violent episodes while changing the head gasket on a GM Quad 4, but we're pretty sure that could have been addressed by dropping the car off at a junkyard instead of visiting a psychiatrist.

[Source: Yahoo!]

"Road rage" may be result of mental illness originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Jun 2006 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments