Does it have a flux capacitor?
Does it run on 1.21 Giggawatts?
Have you been chased by terrorist?
No but I have been chased by ladies because it’s a chick magnet!
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 148
My VIN: 4675, 4190, 3114 and others
Club(s): (DMA) (DMWC) (NCDMC) (DCUK)
Air bags for Deloreans is something John Delorean was investigating and putting research money into. John worked with Jack Martens, and air bag expert engineer that time. Jack was the engineer who represented Allstate insurance in the early 1970s. He worked with GM to design the Air Cushion Restraint System in the mid 70s full size GM cars. These were great systems. They did not kill any kids. They did not damage your eyes. In fact, GM conducted experiments with piglets to make sure these air bags would not do this.
Jack Made a presentation to the Delorean Midwest connection back around 1995 showing him working with JZD and the test Deloreans. A copy of Jacks slides was supposed to be made by the club, but the slides are MIA. Hopefully, they will find their way back into our hands in the future.
But in regard to your question, these ACRS system were stand alone and could be installed in other vehicles. They were a great design with the drivers air bag 4 times bigger than today. The passenger air bag operated at TWO different pressures depending on the craSH SPEED. IN FACt, these air bags were so safe they did not put shoulder belts into the ACRS cars. GM made over 20,000 of this cars and their extreme safety records were used to force the installation in future cars.
There are 4 components - a bumper sensor, a main computer with decelerometer, the steering wheel and the passenger air bag. They were a $300 option. There is a whole story of politics greed, corruption, etc. that stopped installation further in cars until 1991. Over 30,000 people died needlessly and over 300,000 were injured because of these greedy and corrupt people. But that is another true story.
So could this system be retrofitted to a Delorean? Maybe. The biggest problem is size. They were designed for full size GMs. The GM steering wheel is 2" larger in diameter and the passenger air bag is about 4" two wide.
I have been looking at installing this into the "Iron Man" Delorean. It would require a smaller Steering wheel. That is possible, especially if I am trying to put a steering wheel in with controls on it. The passenger air bag is more problematic because it is 4" too wide. Still thinking about this.
Bob
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,581
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
Do you know why JZD did not use the system? Was it the additional cost, the necessary testing or the liability? Or some combination of the three? Allstate also did a lot of funding and research with Brickin. That was also supposed to be a "safety" car. In fact it's designation was SV-1 (Safety Vehicle-1).
David Teitelbaum
There was a really fascinating article posted earlier this month about the birth of the DeLorean:
Curbside Classics - The Best of 2018
It includes Allstate, the BMW Turbo, and the DSV- DeLorean Safety Vehicle.
The DSV- DeLorean Safety Vehicle
In the article, there was a photo of JZD and Giorgetto Giugiaro with the first wooden mockup of what would become the DeLorean. Notice the front grill badge says JZD.:
Dana
1981 DeLorean DMC-12 (5 Speed, Gas Flap, Black Interior, Windshield Antenna, Dark Gray)
Restored as "mostly correct, but with flaws corrected". Pictures and comments of my restoration are in the albums section on my profile.
1985 Chevrolet Corvette, Z51, 4+3 manual
2006 Dodge Magnum R/T (D/D)
2010 Camaro SS (Transformers Edition)
I'm OK with no airbags if it means I won't have to live though the heartbreak of crashing my DeLorean.
In all seriousness though, there are several good reasons already pointed out why retrofitting airbags is really cost prohibitive. Airbags are only one component of a complete restraint system that all need to work together to function as intended which need destructive testing to validate.
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,581
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
If it is any consolation, there are few reported deaths associated with the Delorean. Now, because of the limited use of most of them, the probability of death or serious injury is even lower. As proof, look how inexpensive the insurance is.
David Teitelbaum