A Growing (and Dangerous) Trend: Airbag Pranks [VIDEO]
Perhaps Youtube is to blame, but pranks played on people with old car airbags seems to be growing.
The patent for the first real working airbag in a car was issued in 1968. Some U.S. manufacturers began offering them in the 1970s, but they did not become mandatory until 1998. They're a gas-deployed bag attached to sensors that will fire a cartridge inflating the bag instantly based upon the speed of the vehicle.
The force with which the bag inflates is enough to cause bruising and other injuries in a car wreck (which is why children are not supposed to ride in the front passenger seat).
Enterprising people search the web and junkyards for abandoned vehicles that still contain a working airbag. They find very different ways to deploy the bag to play pranks on friends -- most involve placing the airbag under a seat or stool.
We've included a new video that just went viral on Bing and Youtube of the "Best Airbank Pranks - 2013 Edition." Some are obviously staged, but one word to wise: while funny, we strongly urge you not try this!