air bags and body lift.

is anyone doing this? i have heard that it is illeagal due to the body lift not triggering the front crush cans, but they are connected to the chassis so i dont see why it would matter?

Air bags are classed as a secondary restraint systems and are not covered by any law saying they do or do not have to work after first registration the only thing it might affect is your insurance depending on who you are with.

Hope this helps.

Yes that helps alot, I was unaware of that. I wonder if the same rules apply in Australia vic


Thanks heaps for the reply mate! Means heaps

I have been forwarded that the mot regs are changing, not sure how true this is but i was sent this on another website

There are to be some changes to the MOT test from 1st January 2012 which are being introduced in response to European Commission Directive 2010/48/EU of the 5th July 2010 and which will effect those with aftermarket HID headlights and remapped ECUs:

4.1.4 Compliance with requirements:
(a) Lamp, emitted colour, position or intensity not in accordance with the requirements
(b) Products on lens or light source which obviously reduce light intensity or change emitted colour
(c) Light source and lamp not compatible

4.1.5. Levelling devices (where mandatory):
(a) Device not operating.
(b) Manual device cannot be operated from driver’s seat.

4.1.6 Headlamp cleaning device (where mandatory):
Device not operating.

For anyone with a remap, section 6.1.9 may be relevant.

6.1.9 Engine performance:
(a) Control unit illegal modified.
(b) Illegal engine modification.

(by 'illegal', it is assumed that they mean changed/programmed differently from OEM specifications)

There will also be a new check on the general condition of the wiring:

4.11. Electrical wiring
(a) Wiring insecure or not adequately secured.
(b) Wiring deteriorated.
(c) Damaged or deteriorated insulation

and on the function of airbag and seat belt pre-tensioner systems:

7.1.4. Safety belt Pre-tensioners:
Pre-tensioner obviously missing or not suitable with the vehicle.

7.1.5. Airbag:
(a) Airbags obviously missing or not suitable with the vehicle.
(b) Airbag obviously non-operative.

7.1.6. SRS Systems:
SRS MIL indicates any kind of failure of the system.

I may be wrong, but most airbags are triggered by an accelerometer, not by the crush-cans being crushed. The reason for this is they will operate in response to oblique impacts which may not affect the cans at all - such as a corner impact where your wing & tyre hit something else.

Although mine may have been 'modified' by a previous owner - I can see no evidence of a sensor in the bumper, crush cans or front chassis legs.

On a side note, it's amazing what you find when you start stripping a vehicle. I've found evidence of two collisions which have been aesthetically but not structurally repaired - both hidden inside the trim / rear bumper plastic. The squashed metal was not even re-painted so it's now fairly rusty. It's all coming off - so I don't care particularly!

Si

What are crush cans?
Are we talking about the weak part of the chassis forward of the bulkhead?

Yup! The corrugated bits that the bumper bolts to. In the olden days, deformable members were often literally 'cans'. These days they are just parts designed to deform and absorb impact energy, generally mounted ahead of the steering components.

Si

As Si said nearly all airbags need to detect a large amount of deformation at the centre of the vehicle as well as at an impact sensor on the edge of the vehicle before the system is set off which is why the airbag control unit is in the centre of the vehicle because it contains a YAW and impact sensor. And I think the system on a jimny is very old school and only uses the two sensor in the control unit but don't quote me on it as it has been a long time since I looked at a airbag problem on a jimny. And on a side note I spoke to the man for the minstry today about airbags in MOTs and he said that there is no rules in the pipe line at the mo for any airbag related system to be inclueded in the MOT.

My main reason behind wanting to romove them is so I can mount a winch bar to the front of the chassis

There are no crush cans / crumple zones on a Jimny. The front chassis members are solid right up to where the bumper attaches. The air-bags are triggered by an accelerometer which is located under the little tray in front of the gear lever.

Mounting a bull-bar or lifting the body has no impact on the functioning of the air-bags.

A jimny does have crumple zones, the front chassis legs are designed to cruple, the steering column is telescopic etc.



Looks convincing eh?

A bull bar will mess this up, but I'm no expert

BTW always go for a head on, an offset collision looks nasty. (Cam usually have a couple of "light frontal" cars that look like this on eBay)

In front of the front cross member, there are two pieces of channel that stick out, to which the bumper bolts. These are corrugated and designed to crush in the event of an impact.

Although they are not 'cans', they are generically known as crush-cans. Further back towards the bulkhead, the chassis has been weakened in places to make it deform in a more predictable way. In general the idea is they fold under the vehicle so the cabin rides up over the engine as they deform. Much better than the engine landing in your lap.

The down side of this, from my point of view, is it makes a centre mounted, vectored winch much more difficult as, if you pull hard enough, the chassis will just fold up! I've seen this on a Vitara and it wasn't pretty. (quite funny though!)

Si