air bag question

[ericn1300]

i just bought a 1996 grand prix that had been involved in parking lot fender bender. the front bumper is pushed down about an inch and the damage was never repaired.

the air bags did not deploy because the previous owner did not believe in air bags and had removed the fuse. my question is: have the air bags been triggered and are just waiting for me to reinstall the fuse and blow in my face or do you think it would be safe to put the fuse back in and expect normal operation?

[harv405]

hmm id be worried about that too. Id call your local pontiac dealer.

[maxwedge]

Doesn't work that way once they were de powered all the circuits are dead, disconnect the battery for 5 minutes, install the fuses and reconnect the battery.

[ericn1300]

a friend of ours who's a diesel mechanic that works on school busses says the trigger mechanism is ball on a cord like a pendulum that is held in place by a magnet. when the collision is severe enough to pull the ball away from the magnet the circuit is broken and the air bags deploy. after the collision the magnet pulls back the ball and makes the connection resetting the circuit.

does this sound right, or was it just bull over beers at happy hour.