hi all. Im always looking for ways to improve our TLs. I freakin love my 3.2 - and of all the cars i've driven, few have stirred such a strong passion within me!

nonetheless, safety is always a good thing and nothing u cant have too much of.

I was thinking whether we could add side airbags to our TL's by virtue of using the front seats from a 1st gen RL. Much like Ken transplanted the VSA system from a RL into his 3.2, could the seats (with integrated side airbags on 2000 and up RLs) be fitted into the TL, along with associated wiring (would probably need SRS module from RL), to give the TL vastly superior side impact protection.

Reasons for more side impact protection? Go to iihs.org - the insurance highway safety organization. Look up for example, a 2004 accord - this vehicle performs poorlu in side impact test when without airbags (risk of serious head injury) but performs great when side airbags were installed). Although I must admit that that particular accord also had curtain airbags, so that must definetely have helped. Nonetheless, side airbags would be an asset to have.

Anyone have any suggestions on the topic? How feasible is the idea?

 

Dude....pass some of the $#!t you're smoking over here...

I can't even imagine the amount of engineering that goes into designing airbags specifically for a car....and you want to retrofit it onto your TL?

 

lol man. I figured since the airbags were seat mounted that there was a chance of retrofitting torso side airbags. I guess the idea wasn't so hot...!

thanks for the constructive criticism though...

 

You can retrofit the airbag equipped seats.. surely. But you need to figure out where the impact sensors are in the RL, the airbag module and god knows what else

Its possible though

 

when i replaced the airbags on my accord I found that the SRS has its own wiriing harness, two dash sensors, a control module, and of course the airbags. I would imagine that the side airbags have a similar set up that could very well totally independently of the front airbags since they [side bags] are designed to deploy only in side collisions.

Would the safety benefits be significant? Our cars interior diifers slightly, so would the airbags be effective, or could they potentiallly become a hazard.

 

Assuming the doors are close to the same distance to your body as they are in the RL, they should work.

But I take no responsibility for this

 

It's even worse than that, because the side bags have additional sensors and control logic to prevent deployment in situations like when you have the window down and might have your arm out the window, or when you are leaning up against that door. It would suck to not get this stuff right and then get your neck broken by a side airbag deployment in what might have been a minor accident.

I also don't think you will find space for side bags in a car that was not designed for them. The side bags in my wife's CR-V are located under some off the side trim panels.

 

Space is not an issue. The side airbags we're talking about are in the sides of the seats

However, you bring up some excellent points, such as windows being up or down and the associated sensors that go with that and the passenger location.