h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I read recently about "explosive devices" in side curtain airbags and automatic rollbars. It seems that firefighters, police, and rescue workers were being threatened by these items, many of which they were not aware of.
According to the story, some departments are now carrying laptops so that they can access an automaker data base.

Here comes the question:
Who is developing these "devices", how are they installing them in the vehicles safely at the factory, and what kind of qualifications does one have to have to deal with "explosives" on a commercial basis?

And, last but not least, for fiction purposes, could any of these "safety" devices be used for malevolence?

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Good questions!
I'd heard the emergency personel were getting injured.
The laptops on scene to locate the company info is new to me. The companies should supply that info to them! There can't be that many different ways they are used.

I've got no answers, haven't run acrossed any.

What do you mean by automatic roll bars? *curious*
My head has quite a depression from hitting one of those roll bars
over and over again. Thank goodness for thick hair!

I was not aware of them being a threat. I have hadn't read any bulletins about them at any police sites.

Who designs them is a mystery to me.

To use explosives commercially, you need a blaster's license from the ATF. That will let you do things like demolitions or quarrying. I don't think that would be involved in things like air bags.

The devices could be used for nefarious purposes. I think there were some safety warnings about it a while back. Criminals on a traffic stop could back into a police car to deploy the bag to prevent the police from chasing you. I've had airbags deploy on me twice, and I don't think it would be possible to drive afterwards. If you changed what triggered it and replaced the airbag with something nasty, you could make a little in car mine.

Outside of their designed location, you'd have to be pretty creative to do something with them. They're just a little electrically fired pyrotechnic.

That's a pretty long way of saying, I don't know.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/998111.asp?0sl=-12&cp1=1

Let's see if that works.

Automatic rollbars are a toy in modern convertibles, like Mercedes and Porsche. They are supposed to pop up if the vehicle tilts a certain number of degrees...

http://www.airbaginstitute.com/page573219.htm

While much of this sounds like a bozo selling a seminar...

some of the things lower down the page are interesting, if they are true.

http://www.emtcity.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.cgi?board=trics;action=display;num=1045252745

And an interesting bbs from a hopefully more dependable source.

And some info on the rollbars:

http://www.emtcity.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.cgi?board=trics;action=display;num=1044663990

BMW, Volvo and Mercedes models have the rollbars.

No wonder I have not heard of them, they are out of my price range!
Interesting idea.
Figures the safety minded Volvo would have them, they look like little tanks anyway.

I hadn't heard of the automatic roll bars. Interesting.

"Let's be careful out there."
Phil Esterhaus