Airbags and hybrids

A large number of consumers believe advertisements without reading the fine print or warning labels. Some take word of mouth very seriously, especially rumours that are not traceable. 

When certain media warn them to be more careful when selecting vehicles, they tend to think the media has personal benefit in that particular matter and do not believe them. 

And a lot of consumers use emotions rather than facts and reason when deciding to purchase a particular product. 

This makes me think that when airbags were first introduced to the Thai market, it led to a large number of court cases. When a vehicle equipped with airbags was involved in an accident and the airbags did not inflate, consumers would sue the auto company or file a complaint with the consumer protection board. 

I was appointed as member of the consumer protection board for automobiles, and once I made detailed inspections, I found out that these types of accidents did not require the airbag to inflate. In fact, it helped save money for the consumers, who did not have to replace the airbags since they would not have made any contribution to the safety of the passengers if inflated under those circumstances. 

But vehicle owners don’t want to believe that. They think that if there is a frontal crash, the airbag MUST inflate. 

Another funny complaint was when a consumer said the airbag in his vehicle was damaged because after it inflated, it did not maintain the original shape for a long time as in the advertisement. There was also a large hole in the airbag that let out all the air. 

I spent a lot of time explaining to the vehicle owner that the airbag would remain fully inflated for about 0.3 seconds, which means that it’s as fast the blink of the eye. It is too quick for anyone to see it. And the large hole in the airbag is there so that the driver or passenger does not pass out or is choked to death. But for the consumer to understand, I had to spend many months explaining and citing evidence from overseas. This is because consumers here were used to seeing the advertisement of the airbag fully inflated. 

Today there is a large number of hybrid vehicles being sold, and consumers only know that the hybrid system helps lower fuel consumption and prevents global warming. But very few hybrid vehicle owners actually study the correct way of using their vehicles. Meanwhile, distributors don’t try to explain how hybrid vehicles work, which is quite different from normal vehicles. 

For example, most hybrid vehicles don’t come with spare tyres as the space is usually used for storing the battery. So manufacturers often provide special chemicals for use when there’s a flat tyre. The agent in the can, when injected into the tyre, will help maintain air pressure so that the vehicle can travel to a tyre shop. 

In this case, the vehicle owner must be sure that the chemical is capable of generating enough air pressure to get the vehicle moving for a certain number of kilometers. If not, the owner must use an electric air pump that can be plugged into a 12V socket to create enough tyre pressure. He may also have to purchase additional cans of this chemical as spares. 

Or when the hybrid power system malfunctions, the owner must check the manual to see how long the vehicle can travel with this symptom and whether he/she will have to wait for the emergency service to arrive. And the owner must check whether the vehicle can be towed to the service centre without creating any further damage. 

For example, in the Porsche Cayenne hybrid, once the “Fault Hybrid System” light pops up with the yellow warning sign, the vehicle can still be driven for hundreds of kilometers by using only fuel in the tank. The acceleration may drop a bit since the electric motor is not assisting, but there is definitely enough power and torque to get the vehicle going uphill. 

However, if the warning signal turns from yellow to red, you need to stop the vehicle and simply wait for the mechanic to arrive.