learn me airbag equipped seats

discovered that my new daily has the srs logos on the seat sides, which leads me to believe that there are airbags inside. that, and the po stated that it had side airbags.

ive never had a car with airbags in the seats.

what the hell do they do, other than deploy? what sets them off?

also, I want to add lumbar to these seats for comfort due to back injury. these in particular: http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/universal-seat-lumbar-support.html

can I do that in a seat with airbags? would it impede on the functioning of the airbag, or possibly cause them to go off?

maybe im just paranoid....

car is a 2002 protege5

Michael

Side airbags are to protect you in a side impact. Best example would be if you were to get t-boned. It'll help reduce impact from door intrusion. They're set off by various sensors. I don't know about adding the lumbar, but I'd have to guess it would alter something. It may change the angle of the airbag or give the sensors funny readings. But I'd check with an auto upholstery shop, they've probably dealt with it many times.

I just added a manual air lumbar support to my RX-8 R3 Recaros. It does not interfere with the side airbag at all. I used the Corbeau one (http://corbeau.com/products/accessories/inflatable_lumbar/). It works excellent. I just pulled up the bottom of the seat back cover and was able to slide the air bladder under it. Took about 20 minutes taking my time and fiddling around a bit with the position.

Huh, I didn't realize side airbags were an option on the protege that early...

As Klayfish said, they are for side impacts. They're generally to put something soft between your head and the door/glass, to prevent squishing sounds.

They should be located high in the shoulder region, so as long as the lumbar addition doesn't go up there, and you don't cut the wires (usually yellow?), I don't see any issues.

Side air bags is a misnomer. They are more like a curtain. Same with the seat. I had personal experience when my 2011 Fiesta got rammed in the drivers door. I think mostly they are to protect you from flying glass, also they might stop your head from going the wrong way. Btw: the front bags don't go off in a side hit.

Mine didn't work:

Thanks guys. After reading up more and you're comments, I feel confident in adding lumbar without negattively effecting safety features.

Probably gbonna have to start a build thread.

I remember an article I read about audi crash testing the euro rs(4 or 6 I dont remember) that had deeply bolstered buckets against the regular seat with bags and the race style seat was safer in side impact. Racier= better surprise, surprise.