(3/7/2006 - see editor's news flash update on the Ped video)The pictures on the right do not do this video justice. (click on picture to enlarge)
Google Video is calling it "The Power of OLD people". Another title for this might be "The Wisdom of OLD people".
How did she knew where the airbag detonator g-spot was? OUCH!
I wonder what the driver of that car will be feeling the next time he thinks about pressing on his horn or reving his car engine to scare a pedestrian in front of him, perhaps a pavlovian-esque, sudden, sharp, sting of pain in the face, that appears from no where, perhaps? (OUCH!) (wink)
This lady is helping make our bike/skate/walk paths safe, one car at a time. (wink)
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What a cool video! Thanks for sharing the link.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, no. An airbag is set off when an accelerometer inside the car senses a sudden stop, usually equal to the force of hitting a solid object such as a concrete wall at ten to fifteen miles per hour. I don't care how much spinach that nice older lady eats, she is not going to set off a car's airbag by whacking its license plate frame with a shopping bag. She didn't even rear back and give the bag some momentum.
ReplyDeleteNice work, though, on the part of whoever set this up. My only criticism (besides the fact that airbags don't actually work that way) is that there's too much of a lag between the time the cameraperson (having "noticed" the screech of brakes) turns around and gets the car and the old lady into frame, and the time the old lady starts to cross the street. In real life, the cameraperson would have instantly seen that there was no accident or anything else interesting, and swiveled back around to resume filming his friend on the skateboard.
But again, if we suspend our disbelief as to those two things, it's an amusing little vignette.
Here is an interesting article documenting how an airbag can be detonated, other than be a crash.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the little dance he was playing with his brake and accelorator , along with the strike of the purse on the bumper, in combonation made for the "perfect storm" of the air bag detonating without a crash.
Or perhaps some electronics engineer was a secret pedestrian advocate and built in a back door to detonating air bags under certain conditions of driver behaviour, such as a certain amount of honking of the horn, revving of the engine, and pressing hard on the brake while revving the engine
(wink)(smile)
Or...
ReplyDeletePerhaps our cars are becoming so smart, with all the computers and artifical inteligence we are giving them, that this cars said "F#%K you" and smacked the driver in the face with its airbag to shut him up and stop him from messing with his engine and brakes, and horn.
And/or perhaps the car, with its added intelligence and personality saw the camera, had a sense of humor, and thought it would be funny if the camera was able to record the driver of the car getting smacking in the face
(wink)(smile)
More like, the folks shooting the film put a sensor on the underside of the bumper which, when contacted, triggered a prop airbag (a real one would have been too risky to the actor driving the car--they have been known to break noses and ribs).
ReplyDeleteThe prop airbag inflates a bit too slowly to be absolutely realistic, but the producers count on us not noticing this. Indeed, I didn't notice it the first time I watched the video.
I found a few video of actual air bags.
ReplyDeleteHere is a double airbag test on live humans in a car from this site: http://www.reelefx.com/elements.htm
Here is another one in slow motion on a crash dummy.
On this first one it looks about the same speed. However, this one exhausted alot of smoke.
here is another
this one seemed to be a similar speed and did not have the smoke, which is like the ped detenating version
Here is another version of the granny airbag detonation
This is a good one.
This one shows an airbag deploying from the side in slow motion on a crash dummy.
Here is another good one
Here is a link to a video of a motorcyclist air vest deployment on a test dummy, in slow motion.
As I am examining some videos of air bag deployments, it appears you may be right. It may have been a staged event.
ReplyDeleteHere is one video which also seems to have a firmer full blow than what appears on the granny video. And again there appears to be a greyish smoke that also exhausts with the deployment.
Perhaps the car was rigged for movies with an FX version of an air bag for movies.
And some folks came up with this little vignette.
However, I still think it is hilarious, no matter real or fake.
Yup, they put out a lot of smoke, all right. I had one deploy in my face a few years ago when the car I was driving was rear-ended at speed and forced into the (stationary) car in front of it. There was so much smoke that I thought the car was on fire and I kicked the passenger door open to get out, the driver's door having been wedged shut by the force of the impact.
ReplyDeleteNo way would somebody react so calmly to a real airbag going off in his face. The actor probably should have faked his head back a little more, to simulate the impact of a real bag.
Placid Casual said...
ReplyDeleteYup, they put out a lot of smoke, all right. I had one deploy in my face a few years ago when the car I was driving was rear-ended at speed and forced into the (stationary) car in front of it. There was so much smoke that I thought the car was on fire and I kicked the passenger door open to get out, the driver's door having been wedged shut by the force of the impact.
No way would somebody react so calmly to a real airbag going off in his face. The actor probably should have faked his head back a little more, to simulate the impact of a real bag.
Placid, thanks for your comments.
I did see one video, which I believe I listed a link to that was called "air bag screen test" or something like that.
In that video both the passenger and driver air bags are detonated. after they expand, the passenger and driver make a motion with their head as if to have been hit with the air bags in the face. after that laughter can be heard.
It was my impression that they were actors working on a comedic scene of a movie in which their air bags get deployed.
On the other hand, in the granny video, id did see fairly strong back motion of the drivers head, especially given that in this case his car was stationary from before, during, and after the deployment of the air bag.
And, as for his limited emergency response, that may be able to be explained in that he may have been humiliated be the experience and was trying to mask emotion.
Funny Video, something you want to belive as real - but offcourse it is fake.
ReplyDeleteI suppose if it is fake, it could have been produced as a kind of Pedestrian safety film.
ReplyDeleteAnd drivers in there cars, not knowing if it is or isn't possible that a pedestrian could smack their front bumper, and trigger the detonation of the air bag.
The drivers may use more restraint at doing anything to provoke a pedestrian at smacking the front bumper of their car
(wink)(smile)
Funny, but fake.
ReplyDeleteAirbags are covered in a kind of cornstarch that stops the material sticking together so that it deploys evenly. Lots of dust usually. Also, they're basically loaded with a force similar to a shotgun round, and deploy VERY fast indeed.
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ReplyDelete