pop an airbag

Ok what is an easy way to pop the air bag without piercing any wires? I have a customer trying to blame me for doing this and I have nothing close or into the srs wiring harness or anything that woould cause this. Just kinda curious how he could have done this himself. He had a fit when I gave him his bill for his alarm install and it was more than his buddies who was a lot easier to hook up than his.

Are you saying that you think the customer poped it intentionally?... or by accident and is just trying to blame you?I don't understand why a customer would "pop" an airbag himself intentionally, but it is possible. Accidently is another issue.

Other then piercing a wire or smashing the car into a wall at high speed one of many ways to potentially pop one is by inserting a jumper wire, a test light or even a trusted DMM (if used improperly) into one of the SRS connectors and send power/ground to the connection. This would leave no trace of "piercing" a wire but would get the job done nonetheless (poping the airbag that is).

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I think it was done intentionally. he was all ....ed off because I charged him 50.00 more than his buddy who is also a good friend of mine but I also had to install a few extra pin switches a microwave sensor and a few other goodies that made the price higher. He never asked before I did it he just assumed I would charge him the same. His friend has hinted to me that he did this but has not come right out and said it. I offered to have it taken to a shop and let them determine if I caused it or the alarm I know for a fact I did not a=or anything on the alarm. He stated he went out to go to work and it was popped!!! Thanks for the reply.

Hard to believe he would pop his own air bag and cause potentially thousands of dollars in damage to his vehicle just because he feels he was overcharged for an alarm install but I guess anythings possible. If that turns out to be the case this is a sick and dangerous customer.

You might need a laywer and a witness or 2 (professional installer in the field) if this ends up in court. A highly experienced installer should be able to verify if it could possibly have been anything you did or if there was no way it was you. There may also be a way to read a code in the vehicle to determine what set it off but if this was done intentionally it could be very difficult  to prove. I wish you luck with it, I feel for you since we all get these kind of customers now and again.

If it turns out to be something you did..or you end up with no way to dispute it you might be best off paying the repair and just write it off as a business expense (occupational hazard if you will), this stuff just happens sometimes unfortunatly.

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Yeah, a scanner will probably tell you the cause of the airbag deployment. It's actually quite difficult to set one off, I'v only seen one blow years ago when a rookie was doing an install , On most both a 12v AND a ground must be sent, either or usually won't do it. as far as it just sitting there parked and it blowing, well someone could have run into it , hit the bumper hard enuf or whatever and his alarm should have sounded.. The alarm obviousely draws power while the car is parked, as long as you went to the 12v in the ign harness thats the only ckt drawing power. It wont stand up in court because it happened after the fact, and if he won't bring it for a second opinion at another shop, any self respecting judge [or insurance co] will tell him to get bent...

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Tire Proz Stillwater Mn
High End Restyling and Comlete Repair

All settled!!! His buddy and a good friend of mine (even better now) gave him up. This kid is not all together there. If I had the time and extra money I would pursue pressing charges of fraud but it just is not worth it. I have been installing for many years and am considered one of the best small shops in the area and have never had something like this happen to me before. The more I think about it I could have ended up dishing out alot of money just to keep a rep. His car is not worth much since he has it beat to he** so an airbag means nothing to him. he just removed it and duct taped over the opening. I will not allow him back!!!

So basically this sh^t-for-brains cared enough about his car to have a security system installed and now drives around with duct tape on his air bags all out of spite? Yeah, not allowing him back is a good call. Hard to believe he figured out how to discharge the airbag without driving into a wall at high speed..or maybe he did?

However a friend of mine who is also an installer has seen a newbie deploy an airbag by simply probing wires with an "el cheapo" incandescent test light so everyone should bear in mind that it can happen..one of many reasons to always use a DMM when probing the unknown.

Take care, glad to hear the issue is settled.

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