Bullshit!
Show me a force distribution diagram of your hypothesis, complete with
finite element analysis, and I will cede your point, but I still say that a
bar in front of your face is more safe than nothing.....
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net>
To: "John Kelly" <76067.1750@compuserve.com>
Cc: "Bay Area Autocross" <ba-autox@Autox.Team.Net>; "Bryan Nemy"
<bnemy@pacbell.net>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: Air Bag information from SCCA
> On Fri, Nov 19, 2004 at 01:27:28PM -0500, John Kelly wrote:
> > While the above is only a recomendation at this time, I have to ask what
> > happens to anybody whose face is exposed to the air bag "safety" device
> > during a collision?
>
> An airbag is designed to distribute the force of impact across a wide
> area, which reduces the maximum amount of pressure your body/head are
> exposed to. It's still going to smart -- there may be "rug-burns" or
> bruises, but it's not going to break anything.
>
> A helmet is designed to do the same thing for just your head.
> However, it won't distribute the force across as wide an area as the
> air bag would, because it contacts the front of your head over a
> smaller area. I think the concern in this case is that the force from
> the air bag pushes the helmet up and back, and it's the contact point
> between the chin-guard and your jaw that resists most of that force.
> That would tend to concentrate the pressure on your jaw rather than
> allowing it to be distributed across your face.
>
> In the case of the combination of a full face helmet with an airbag,
> the helmet defeats the function of the airbag, and concentrates the
> force rather than spreading it.
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