andydiver said:

There are a number of detail design details and human factors at play here. The amount a human body will swing about inside a car will depend on seat design somewhat, and dynamics of impact. Say the head moves 3 inches in a side impact with similar seat design in most cars. In the big heavy German saloon cars I have sat in my head would be an inch into the side panel. In a panda it won't hit anything. Guess which one most needs side impact bags, and which one has them because it is a defacto standard. While the bag itself is clearly an important instrument not to be tampered with, it is a nonsense that they can't be refitted or have trim around them easily replaced and that is a symptom of bad industrial design... Unfortunately such cosmetic and optional driven rubbish is everywhere in our consumer society.

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What if the human head only moves one inch or if it moves 10 inches?

Don’t make things up to suit your views please.

The idea that a head will only move three inches in the event of a side impact is laughable. A head will move more than 3 inches to the side in a head on impact...

As a point of safety, a small relatively cheap car like a fiat 500 having 7 airbags is I would imagine quite unusual.

My Ford Capri was a death trap.

The general case is, in like for like testing, safety features will and should be different for different cars. However that nuance is lost in marketing and blanket requirement lists, and what is a critical feature in one car would be marginal help in another. Have looked for this sort of detail in the EuroNcap tests, some is there, however, still big statements such as 'no side bag' without a follow up observation as to the geometry or underlying design that might make that meaningful.

306maxi said:

What if the human head only moves one inch or if it moves 10 inches?

Don’t make things up to suit your views please.

The idea that a head will only move three inches in the event of a side impact is laughable. A head will move more than 3 inches to the side in a head on impact...

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Edit: Actually it's worse than that. As you please know I was citing a like for like force of impact to the occupant in similar seats. What the inspectors should really add to the test report is: this car is marketed to people who wish to drive 150mph on the Autobahn where every micro inch of protection would be needed statistically, as opposed to this car designed and likely driven at sensible speeds where modest protection will statistically save your life.
Even more, one should have bucket seats and full shoulder belts, the other is OK with the excellent 3 point belt on the school run.
Like I say, sensible decision making and expectations are being distorted by defacto standards.

andydiver said:

The general case is, in like for like testing, safety features will and should be different for different cars. However that nuance is lost in marketing and blanket requirement lists, and what is a critical feature in one car would be marginal help in another. Have looked for this sort of detail in the EuroNcap tests, some is there, however, still big statements such as 'no side bag' without a follow up observation as to the geometry or underlying design that might make that meaningful.

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Car manufacturers don’t just put extra airbags into cars for poos and giggles.

Think of how complicated a car is to make. Then times that by a 100 and you’re probably somewhere near to the complexity and sophistication of developing a car in the current era.

Think of how complicated a car is to make. Then times that by a 100 and you’re probably somewhere near to the complexity and sophistication of developing a car in the current era.

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That is because numerous EU commissioners and other seat farters come up with more and more stupid requirements that we could happily do without (and have done so for a considerable time).
Life isn't without risks, some of which can (and maybe should) be mitigated, but as always, the last 10% come at an absurdly high cost.

A little... Also that when a manufacturer makes all the design decisions and comprimises that must be made, places it onto the market, never with poos and giggles, the marketing department will have been working to manage the feedback which will vary from 'this car is safe for my pootling about as designed' to 'my god it is a deathtrap there are no soft bits somewhere'. The official inspection process such as EuroNcap is good but not particularly detailed regards this, and consumer expectations are whymsical at best. So yes, kit will be fitted to cars with marginal benefit to the sensible driver, and proper innovation might go under reported, such a high press steel in some area saving a kilo at the same strength.
Just look at how wildly different opinions are on the same car on this forum over different matters.

Gina500 said:

That is because numerous EU commissioners and other seat farters come up with more and more stupid requirements that we could happily do without (and have done so for a considerable time).
Life isn't without risks, some of which can (and maybe should) be mitigated, but as always, the last 10% come at an absurdly high cost.

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It’s nothing to do with that at all. Please stop, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

andydiver said:

A little... Also that when a manufacturer makes all the design decisions and comprimises that must be made, places it onto the market, never with poos and giggles, the marketing department will have been working to manage the feedback which will vary from 'this car is safe for my pootling about as designed' to 'my god it is a deathtrap there are no soft bits somewhere'. The official inspection process such as EuroNcap is good but not particularly detailed regards this, and consumer expectations are whymsical at best. So yes, kit will be fitted to cars with marginal benefit to the sensible driver, and proper innovation might go under reported, such a high press steel in some area saving a kilo at the same strength.
Just look at how wildly different opinions are on the same car on this forum over different matters.

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Marketing don’t get to choose how many airbags go in a car.

The way it would work for a car is that marketing day “we want to be best in class for safety” or “We want at least 3 NCAP stars” or whatever. But they do not choose what safety equipment goes in a car...

While I have seen for many many years seat covers being sewn back up after being split, I completely understand Maxi’s experience here, manufacturers do spend millions and millions on developing parts that may seem to be very cheap and we can’t understand why a fiat logo wheel cap costs £20 or what ever the case maybe; they do this for maximum safety and if you build something and someone else butchered it causing someone injury, you’d be quite annoyed. On the flip side my experience would be that repairs are rarely as strong as the oem stitching so will fail and re-split usually through normal wear. I’d not have a problem with doing a repair, I would not want a repair done by someone with boot laces which is too strong and will then deform the seat or rip the seat apart, this is at the end of the day an explosive right at your elbow. If you’re driving could easily do serious liver and bowel damage, break ribs and puncture lungs. So if you’re sensible I’d not have a problem, but I know exactly maxi’s point.

You absolutely cannot say what a person will hit in a car accident. Actual accidents on the road are rarely anything like crash testing. But cars have failed crash tests when their head went between airbags and made contact with the dash with airbags either side of their head. Never take anything for granted really, airbags are only supplementary and may not even deploy in many instances if the conditions are not met.

andydiver said:

... So yes, kit will be fitted to cars with marginal benefit to the sensible driver,

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None of the safety kit is of any benefit to anyone not involved in a collision. But as we can only control our own actions, when someone else makes a big mistake, it is good to know the airbags will help once we become a 'passenger'.

Sitting in a hospital bed, having time to rethink the stitching might be a lucky escape. Lying in a coffin, while others rethink your stitching decision, not so good. Restitching with the weakest thread capable of holding the seat together in normal use might work ok.

I’m so glad I asked this [emoji51]

typecastboy said:

I’m so glad I asked this [emoji51]

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At least on a forum we can't be clutching each other by the throat during any argument.
Sewing it up using weak cotton thread might work, using fishing line, perhaps not so good. Or perhaps some fine wire intended as lockwire for nuts and bolts.

Just stick some gaffer tape over it.