AE86 with Airbags?

[ae86 cyprus]

Dear friends, my dad bought me for my 15th birthday an AE86, which was 3 years ago almost...since then, i rebuilt the engine with him, the car is in super excellent condition, I spent 1k on it, which took me 2 year's summer jobs, but the problem is my mom...
she won't let me drive the car...EVER because it's got no airbags!!! she believes that the airbags can save you when you crash onto a wall with 200kph!!! she is totally wrong!! she wants to give me a crappy toyota paseo which is "safe for crashes into walls at 200kph" because it's got airbags...WOOOOOOOW
and now for my question...i know that two kinds of airbags exist..the one with the sensor in the engine compartment, which is connected to the ECU of the car and can work together with the belt to help you in an accident, but there is another type of airbag, which works on its own..it has a special device on the steering wheel which is activated with "punches" from the accident...i think this airbag is found in the old toyota carina and the old celica (93')...
can anyone tell me if there is ANY WAY TO INSTALL THOSE STEERING WHEELS ON MY AE86? NO MATTER THE COST OR THE WORK IT NEEDS...OR ANYONE KNOWS A COMPANY WHO SPECIALISES ON SUCH AIRBAGS????? P-L-E-A-S-E H-E-L-P !!! OTHERWISE I WILL NOT EXPERIENCE THE DRIVING OF A AE86 FOR 10 YEARS OR MORE

[apardal]

Dude, you need to talk with you mom and dad. If your dad bought you the car, he is the one held responsible for wanting you to drive it. Let them solve the subject themselves.

You need to make your mom understand that you're a boyscout and don't drive past the speed limits... and I hope you don't, because with no experience driving cars, trying to push the limit with an AE86 will be asking for problems...

Anyways... just talk with them.

And by the way... don't even think of installing an airbag in the car... that's just useless.

Good luck

[nmwisima]

Crashing with a Paseo. Thats both dangerous and absolutelly no fun at all.

Who says Paseos are safe? They are total craps.

[Lipinhu]

To me, this seems more like a generation crash than realy a problem. This gets me into some social cience, behave in the society and shit. It´s true that we all learn from an early age and catch every details from everithing arround, parents, family, neiborhood, and grow from them, bla bla bla.
I assume that your mom its older than you. The idea is: the older you get, the harder it is to change some habits, ideas, opinions, so some hard terapy is needed.

I´m by no meanings a psycologist, but what i sugest is:

Tie your mom in the passenger seat, gumtape his mouth, put on an evil smile and go drift.

I´m just kiding mate, i do understand parental control and things like that, but you two need to have a good talk. After the work involved, i would never let go the car (if i was desperate for money, maybe...), NO F*C*ING WAY. If she gives you the paseo to daily driver, its ok, but the hachi stays in the garage.

Hope everithing works out in your side.

[tomstwincam]

I'm sorry, but your almost 18years old and your parents are telling you what car you can and cannot drive? Your problems aren't airbags you need to have your parents realize your capable of making your own desicions.

[nmwisima]

And plz, someone change that dramatic title. He does need our help and its deffo not urgent in any way.

[jamiemirror]

It's possible that other Toyota steering wheel fits AE86.
But indeed problem is between you and your mom.

[Mux213]

This is why kids get into worse and worse crashes every day. Kids already believe they are invincible, now they believe they drive in a car that will safe their live because it has 5 stars in NCAP, and thus drive like friggin morrons! This dont even go for just kids nowadays, but grownups just the same.

I'd want my kid to drive in a car with absolutely no safety measures except maybe a seatbelt, heck, give the kids a roadster! Then make my kid realize that if he/she gets into a 10kph accident, it'll kill him/her. I'm pretty sure they won't go hotdogging with the car at all

Anyways, have to agree with the others, your problem aint with the missing airbags, besides, how are you ever going to test if the aftermarket installed airbag works on your car anyways? Once you have airbags installed, your mom will have another excuse to think your car is not safe enough like it not having ABS or traction control, or advanced snow stability programs, or ....

[NoHachi]

Just a few observations for you guys:
1. Airbags can and DO save lives. Thanks to an airbag I walked away unharmed from a crash that should have killed me or left me with serious trauma for the rest of my life. Accident can happen to you even when you are driving safely, so quit the cognitive dissonance thing, just because the ae86 doesn't happen to have one.
2. Retrofitting an airbag to a car seems to me to be a bad idea. They can be dangerous too if they don't deploy the way they are intended to.
3. If my kid had a "tuning is not a crime!" attitude, I would be sceptical about their future driving behaviour too. Giving them a more modern car with an economical low-hp engine and modern safety equipment would be a good way to spend the first year driving.

So lots of things working against you when looking at it logically. So a new illogical structure needs to be thought of. Does your dad need a hobby/weekend car?

[jamiemirror]

NoHachi , it's best to use railroads only (from safety point of view). The problem is (like Mux says) the "invincibility".
You are correct that airbags save life as like seatbelts etc. That doesn't mean that any of these will guarantee your life though.
In Italia and France you can see small 5hp cars for young people. You can drive it with license for small motorcycle, they are slow and good for town driving (i.e. perfect way to develop basic driving skills). Maybe this is the ultimate starter's car ?