Airbag bug forces GM to recall 4.3m vehicles – but eh, how about those self-driving cars, huh?

Cock-up

What a cock-up. Maybe they should order their airbags from Bulgaria.

At least the software failure reaulted in the better of two options

If the air-bag software were to crash at least it resulted in "front airbags fail to deploy in a crash" than 'Front airbags deploy successfully during normal operation', like some vehicles have experienced.

Although airbags are fairly pointless since they save you from things that could be mitigated in other ways. Things like more intelligent seat-belts that allow some forward movement forward would prevent heads from arcing downward and causing the head to collide with the vehicle; Changing the way the steer wheel works would also go a long way to saving lives, after all, during a collision it is nothing more than a heavy wrought iron spear that happens to be pointed right at the drivers heart and is held in place by the steel frame of the vehicle.

I'm still have mixed feelings on the airbags...

But I learned to drive when all that was available were lap belts and they were optional. Shoulder belts were a big improvement. Airbags... I think tend to give a false sense of security so some people don't bother with the belts and in many ways, that sense of security leads to inattentiveness.

I've had a couple of bad accidents pre-airbag and because of the belts, I walked away from them. No nasty fumes in the lungs, no rapid deployment, and in one case, the car took two hits with the second being well after any airbags would have been deployed.

I've had friends that the airbags did their thing and saved them (along with the belts) and others that had many complications from the bags even though they were using belts. I do have to wonder if the added complexity and mis-application of the deployment makes them worth it. Sometimes, the simple solution is the best.

Bottom line... I'm still not sure about these things. They're obviously good for certain accidents and not so good for others. Properly adjust belts are always good, IMO.

What about an OTA update??

Do the owners of these vehicles actually have to take their vehicles to a garage to have the software update installed?

Can't they do an Over The Air update via wifi like some other vehicles are able to do?

Maybe GM needs to talk to the folks at QNX.

Screwed Either Way

So we have a choice - airbags that may kill or injure us when they deploy or airbags that don't deploy at all. Great.

I'd be more concerned

that the seat belt didn't deploy either.

This is likely to be far more serious than an airbag not deploying.

I'm old enough to remember

Cars with:

- No seat belts, front or rear

- Drum brakes, without power boosters

- Pre radial tyres

- Non-collapsible steering wheels

- Hard, metal, dashboards

- No way to deflect the engine down under the cab in a head-on

- Big stabby-shaped metal steering wheel designs

- Passenger killing 'crumple-zones'

Compare and Contrast with VW....

VW Passat, arguably, makes more carbon than VW claimed it would (When everyone know the claims were rubbish, anyway). No injuries, illness or real-world harm in evidence at all.

"Outraged" owners, politicians and journalist describe how VW could possibly do such a egregious thing as lying about something that - arguably - barely matters. Massive, massive, disproportionate "compensation" claimed and awarded by federal government, news media dipping on and on about it for months. VW ordered to refund cars in full, despite the mileage, criminal charges filed in federal courts...

GM Cars. Definitely dangerous, lead to at least one confirmed death, probably more, vital safety equipment not working........ drop them an email about it, and move on. If they don't respond, it's their stupid fault for buying a GM product and expecting it to not kill them....

NB: one is European. One is not only American, but also partially owned by the federal government.

Question - why does something so fundamentally safety-critical as an airbag even have ANY electronics in its operation at all?

Have we completely lost sight of the need to make things simple?

preceded by a specific event impacting vehicle dynamics

What does that mean? Swerving? Braking hard? If you can't get your firmware updated soon should you just take your hands and feet off the controls in the event of an impending crash to ensure nothing affects the "vehicle dynamics"? What new horse poop is this?

Car industry needs a FAA

The amount of recalls in the last decade has been staggering, it is a sign that even the car manufacturers are not managing the complexity of systems installed in cars anymore.

If driving automation ever will materialize in a world of rain, road salt, heat, dust, put holes, non OEM parts, and cars maintained by hobby mechanics, things should be organized like the FAA does. Material testing, checking of constructions and obligatory use of standard parts which are verified and tested. Perhaps TTIP could help in creating this, since it would apply to a huge market.

Computers in cars are not bad, they are a blessing. One finds out after being bitten hard by cars with 80's-90's Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection having a few issues.