Servicing / When to replace pre-tensioners

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Petemywifehasafreelander1

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Hi All - lookinmg for some advice - please be gentle with me (first post!!) According to the Haynes manual you should replace the seatbelt tensioners and airbags after 15 years. I've had our Freelander 1 from new in 2005 (55 Reg) and have serviced it since the warranty ran out myself - These are allegedly due now. Any views on this??
 
I've never heard of anyone replacing pretensioners on any car so not qualified to comment.
I'd be interested in the opinions of the experts here but would be surprised if anyone else has ever done it.
 
I've never heard of replacing either, I can imagine it would be cost prohibitive. I thought there were good for the life of the car, certainly mid 90s onward
 
Thanks for the replies, its appreciated. Pic from the Haynes manual attached (if nothing else to prove I'm not making it up!!). States its for 2002 year model on so there has to be something behind it???
 

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Almost all components on a vehicle have a limited service life, the SRS pyrotechnics among them.
When pyrotechnic restraints first appeared on the automotive scene they had a 10 year change interval. However this was increased to 15 years, as pyrotechnic technology improved.

I would doubt that anyone actually changes the pyrotechnic units though, as the costs vs the value of the vehicle, would make it a prohibitive exercise.
 
All those types of products have a 'lifetime'. That lifetime should be long before they fail - just like a cam belt.

However...

I don't think they are checked for a WOF/MOT.

I do not know if insurance companies will check if they have been changed in the event of an accident/claim.

It is a test to see how much you/we all value the original safety capability of the vehicle. As Ali says, I've not heard of anyone replacing pretensioners or even airbags - apart from my daughter because it was a recall on her car to be changed.
 
Wouldn't car manufacturers be required to recall the cars if there was a serious safety issue?
Or am I being naive since a recall for this would effect every company costing billions.
 
Alibro said:
Wouldn't car manufacturers be required to recall the cars if there was a serious safety issue?
Click to expand...

Yes. In fact the wife's BMW E46 was subject to an airbag recall (it was 15 at the time), the airbag would apparently fail to fire, or fire on its own, so VOSA forced BMW to replace them.
 
Nodge68 said:
Yes. In fact the wife's BMW E46 was subject to an airbag recall (it was 15 at the time), the airbag would apparently fail to fire, or fire on its own, so VOSA forced BMW to replace them.
Click to expand...
It affected various manufacturers as they all get the same bits from a company called Takata. That's why my daughter's car (a Mazda) was recalled. According to this...

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/c...ecalled-takata-airbags-what-you-need-to-know/

The Takata airbags global recall, potentially affecting up to 100 million vehicles worldwide across around 12 different vehicle manufacturers, is one of the largest vehicle recalls ever undertaken.

It must have cost someone a pretty packet!
 
GrumpyGel said:
It affected various manufacturers as they all get the same bits from a company called Takata. That's why my daughter's car (a Mazda) was recalled. According to this..
Click to expand...
That's the one. ;)
GrumpyGel said:
The Takata airbags global recall, potentially affecting up to 100 million vehicles worldwide across around 12 different vehicle manufacturers, is one of the largest vehicle recalls ever undertaken.
Click to expand...
It's a shame that LR weren't effected, as we'd all have shiny new airbags now.:)
GrumpyGel said:
It must have cost someone a pretty packet
Click to expand...

100,000,000 airbags would be eye wateringly expensive.:eek::eek::eek:
 
I had one airbag recall on my Mitsubishi and one (possibly two) on my Toyota. The squibs that fire the pretensioners and the airbags are regarded as consumables/wear items, which is where the advice to change them comes in. The chemicals degrade over time. The auto industry treat it no differently than the alternator belt and the timing belt or chain.
 
paul99 said:
I had one airbag recall on my Mitsubishi and one (possibly two) on my Toyota. The squibs that fire the pretensioners and the airbags are regarded as consumables/wear items, which is where the advice to change them comes in. The chemicals degrade over time. The auto industry treat it no differently than the alternator belt and the timing belt or chain.
Click to expand...
They might treat them the same in their service schedules but this would only be to cover themselves. There are so many airbags in modern cars the cost of replacing all airbag sqibs would be prohibitive.
 
Alibro said:
There are so many airbags in modern cars the cost of replacing all airbag sqibs would be prohibitive
Click to expand...

Absolutely. The average price for a pyrotechnic module is around £300 each, so an FL1 would cost about £1200 to replace them all. :eek:

A FL2 with easily double that figure, probably triple it in fact. :eek::eek::eek::D
 
Road deaths are these days 1/4 of what they were at their peak and there are an awful lot more miles traveled these days. So cars are a lot safer through many many contributing factors. I wonder what impact air bags have had on the safety?

Obviously the integrity of a lot of those safety features are checked at WOF/MOT time - such as seat belt operation, brakes and their assisted operations etc.

As we do not replace the airbag components at their recommended service intervals, I suppose we are accepting that we are prepared to accept a historic level of safety - you could say we're going back to 1990 levels when there were 2 1/2 times the current deaths - but then other things like ABS and general structure improvements have also been introduced since then.
 
GrumpyGel said:
Road deaths are these days 1/4 of what they were at their peak and there are an awful lot more miles traveled these days. So cars are a lot safer through many many contributing factors. I wonder what impact air bags have had on the safety?

Obviously the integrity of a lot of those safety features are checked at WOF/MOT time - such as seat belt operation, brakes and their assisted operations etc.

As we do not replace the airbag components at their recommended service intervals, I suppose we are accepting that we are prepared to accept a historic level of safety - you could say we're going back to 1990 levels when there were 2 1/2 times the current deaths - but then other things like ABS and general structure improvements have also been introduced since then.
Click to expand...
Agreed GG, anyone driving an older car must accept it will not be as safe as a new car. Especially in this country where corrosion is a major factor.
It's just a fact of life those who can afford new cars are safer than those of us who can't.
 
If the pretensioner is anything like the plastic POS pretensioner pulley that is on the Thor V8, I'd replace it for a steel pulley.
I could see through the crack in mine... I was lucky to find it an replace it early.
80-img_6496_3a2ede4ee83b665c37ef48292dc8ee7b23cfaeb4.jpg
 
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