[geeks] Mac definitions

[Mark Benson]

On 12 Jul 2011, at 23:03, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> I saw it work in the last (I hope!) Die Hard movies, they trigger an air
bag
> deployment to get the car doors unlocked... So they must work when the car
is
> turned off ;^)

There is a documented real case of that on early Ford Mondeo (EU sedan)
models, If you stuck a hard enough boot in the front bumper the airbag went
off and the door unlocked. A lot got stolen so Ford had to revise that design
:)

> Seriously, I don't know.

Part of me thyinks they do still work when the ignition is off as they
wouldn't be much use if you got swiped in a stopping lane otherwise. Also I
know when removing a Land Rover steering wheel airbag module you are
instructed to disconnect the battery and wait 15-20 mins for the system to
discharge before you remove the module. That indicates to me the systems on
the cars I've come across at least are always live.

> My point was (IF) the airbags could be triggered w/ a bat an a few
well-placed
> strikes, a vandal could render a car worthless in a few minutes without
much
> fuss...
>
> Pounding on doors and quarter panels till the damage exceeds the buyout on
the
> car would likely take much longer, unless you happened to hit a few impact
> sensors...

Most people who trash cars with bats rarely put that much thought into the
process and are usually taking out frustration so the more they get to hit the
car, the better :P

--
Mark Benson

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"Never send a human to do a machine's job..."