Has anyone ever heard of an airbag going off while the car is stationary?

[Timper]

This happened to someone I know recently.

The car was parked, he was offloading some stuff out of the boot, key was in the ignition.

He was away from the car (it was not on the road, but on a quiet peice of land away from any busy road etc)... and he heard an almighty BANG.

Went to the car to find the steering wheel airbag had activated!

Next thing... the car wont start / it's as if there is NO life in the car whatsoever.

The car is an 02 reg' S430 petrol.

anyone got any clues as to what has happened?

 

[Ted]

Here

 

[evdok]

No idea as to why it happened one thing i do know, he was very lucky could have happened whilst driving or similar.

 

[flango]

It's more common than you think on older cars never seen it on an MB but some Fords and Mazda regularly pop when no one is near the car, the ones I have seen or heard about are on the very early airbag models when the technology was first introduced (early 90's?), then it was recommended that they should be inspected and have components changed every 10 years. never seen it happen on a modern car unless deliberate by slapping the bumper as in the vid, a nice trick for someone you don't like

 

[Timper]

No idea as to why it happened one thing i do know, he was very lucky could have happened whilst driving or similar.

I thought the same thing. I've heard that these airbags often cause more injury than the accident itself!

In this case, there was nothing / no one around the car when it happened.