Received the following message from a Captain with a southern US city fire department. What is disturbing is that this same subject comes up time and time again yet no automaker will verify if it is bogus or a good thing to do.
"Chief Moore, During a recent visit to local car dealers to check out some of the latest supplemental restraint systems, two dealers advised us to disconnect the neg. cable then the pos. cable and hold them together. They advised this would deplete any capacitor charge build up. Ever heard of this?"
My Reply:
I've heard of doing this but at the same time, have been told that it doesn't work as far as rendering the actual airbags safe to be around. If touching the cables did work, I wonder why we haven't been told about it long before now. Currently, no automaker instructs responders to do this in any of their advisory bulletins.
Even if it did work, the actual airbags would still remain vulnerable to deployment due to static electric charge, short circuit, etc.
As for me, I'm not going to recommend it.
"Chief Moore, During a recent visit to local car dealers to check out some of the latest supplemental restraint systems, two dealers advised us to disconnect the neg. cable then the pos. cable and hold them together. They advised this would deplete any capacitor charge build up. Ever heard of this?"
My Reply:
I've heard of doing this but at the same time, have been told that it doesn't work as far as rendering the actual airbags safe to be around. If touching the cables did work, I wonder why we haven't been told about it long before now. Currently, no automaker instructs responders to do this in any of their advisory bulletins.
Even if it did work, the actual airbags would still remain vulnerable to deployment due to static electric charge, short circuit, etc.
As for me, I'm not going to recommend it.
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