Under the Automobile Recycling Law, it is obligatory to deploy the airbag on the vehicle (activate the airbag) or remove the airbag from the vehicle before final disposal. Our company DO NOT export airbags, please take into the consideration, once you order dismantling services by our company. If airbags from automobiles collected as used vehicles by recycling companies are not properly disposed of (deployed on the vehicle), the authorization for on-vehicle disposal may be revoked.
Airbags (SRS airbags) are among the items that require proper treatment based on the Automobile Recycling Law when scrapped vehicles are dismantled . Airbags are devices that have the purpose of protecting the driver's life in the event of an accident .
For the following reasons, airbags from end-of-life vehicles are required to be "removed and collected" or "on-vehicle activation processing" to be forcibly activated while still installed in the vehicle increase:
- Since airbags use a gas generating agent and are explosive, it is necessary to properly treat them in the dismantling process from the viewpoint of ensuring safety in the recycling process.
- Until 1999, toxic sodium azide was used as a gas-generating agent for airbags, so proper treatment was required in the dismantling process.
- By imposing collection and recycling obligations on automobile manufacturers, etc., the design of easy-to-remove airbags and easy-to-recycle designs by automobile manufacturers, etc. will be further promoted, and efficient recycling and processing will be promoted. What progress can be expected.
Airbags began to be installed in Japanese private cars in the late 1980s, and began to spread in earnest in the 1990s. It was from Airbags are mainly installed in the front of the driver's seat and front passenger's seat , and this is to protect the body from a frontal collision that has a particularly large impact in the event of an accident . Recently, other types of airbags, such as "curtain airbags" and "side airbags," which protect the body from side collisions, have also appeared, and the number of car models that can be equipped with them is increasing year by year.
Appropriate disposal of such airbags is roughly divided into two types depending on the type . One is a type of airbag called "mechanical" , and most older cars are equipped with this type. In this type, the airbag must be removed from the vehicle body and processed. The concern here is "oversight" during removal . The number of airbags installed in a single automobile is increasing year by year , and some automobiles are equipped with more than 10 airbags, including seat belt pretensioners and seat cushions . Appropriate knowledge and skills are indispensable for grasping all those places and removing them safely and properly . Safely removed airbags are put in a special case and submitted to a designated collection site contracted with the Japan Automobile Recycling Cooperation Agency, where they are properly disposed of.
There is another type of airbag called "electric" , which can be operated on the vehicle, that is, it can be installed in the vehicle . This processing work uses a device called "airbag batch activation processing tool" , which makes it possible to deploy all the airbags at once with a single button. Deployment is the actuation of the airbags, but since all airbags mounted on the vehicle can be properly processed at the dismantling site without being removed from the vehicle body, unlike the removal method, there is no oversight.It is an efficient and safe method . The problem is that the position of the SRS computer that connects the airbag activation tool varies depending on the vehicle model, so it is difficult to figure out the position of the coupler. Our company use the second method for the airbags deployment.
The airbag deploys at a speed of 300km/h, literally in the blink of an eye. Only when this operates normally does it play a role in safety protection, but on the contrary, it can be said that there is a high risk if malfunction occurs . That's why removal and installation can only be done by qualified personnel. Also, there is no such thing as second-hand airbags. The Automobile Recycling Law prohibits the reuse of airbags as they are, even if they are unused . No matter how good the condition is, the airbags removed from scrapped vehicles must be treated properly once
