handy for weakening hands
Posted , 4 users are following.
For 20 years I've kept a very small pair of scissors in my car console. Didn't know just how much I'd come to rely on them, vs. lost strength of fingers & hands, until I took a trip last week in a rental car & left those scissors in my car. I needed them at least 10 times in 2 days, unable to open various "easy open" objects without them.
Of course for those who use public transit and cannot carry any scissors of any kind, this does you no good.
1 like, 9 replies
Megheart aitarg35939
Posted
Thinking about scissors in cars made me wonder about air bags in cars.
I've never had an air bag deploy in a car accident, thankfully, but often wonder how does an air bag deflate once deployed? Do they 'go down' almost immediately after impact or does one need to grab their scissors or other sharp object to prevent suffocating? 😝
Perhaps another use for scissors!!!
aitarg35939 Megheart
Posted
I don't know, Megheart. What I wonder about them is whether I need to disable mine. My lungs are so bad with both bronchiectasis and COPD, and the deployed bags are coated in some kind of powder that's not good for healthy lungs.
amkoffee aitarg35939
Posted
I think the airbag deployment saving your life would be more important then the brief time that it would be possible for it to send talc down into your lungs. I know that anything that could compromise your lungs is a serious issue for you but I don't think this is one of them.
aitarg35939 amkoffee
Posted
Do you have bronchiectasis?
As I believe I stated, the powder on the bags not infrequently sends people with healthy lungs to the hospital with powder-caused breathing problems. The powder stays present until a door or window is opened. People who've been in wrecks often have concussions and may not be able to think of opening a door or window, ASSUMING that neither they nor the car have injuries which prevent such actions.
For people who sometimes spend 6-10 months as sick as dog's with bronchiectasis, I do not believe this to be an invalid concern. Are you a pulmonologist with advanced engineering degrees who can prove me wrong, Amkoffee ?
amkoffee aitarg35939
Posted
Obviously I had a nerve with you and I'm sorry that I did that. It was not my intent. And no of course I am not a pulmonologist and I don't have all the degrees you mentioned. But I do have life experience of watching my mother suffer terribly with lung conditions and breathing problems. And I've taken her many times to the emergency room for help. I have visited her countless days while she was in the hospital because of her lung conditions. And she finally died because she got the flu and her lungs couldn't handle it. And I too have had my lung collapse and spent the better part of my first four years of life in the hospital.. And my sister had her lungs collapsed twice. So I am not without sympathy to you.
aitarg35939 Megheart
Posted
I forgot to mention earlier: a lot of folks my height 5'3" and shorter have their airbags turned off. I may get that done since I can no longer call myself 5'4" and only be fibbing by 1/8th inch.
If you're in the States as i am and anyone else ever sits in your spot in the car, you pretty much need to have them sign a waiver so they don't sue you if there's a wreck.
For those unaware, airbags are extremely dangerous to short people. Please look it up before arguing -- NOT directed at you, Megheart.
aitarg35939 amkoffee
Posted
Didn't ask for and don't want your sympathy, amkoffee. No, you didn't hit a nerve. I let you slide once on another post, where you called someone else "Tumour" and thought you'd get under my skin by misspelling my name. As I told the kind folks who PMd me after your atrack then, you would have to invent a new alphabet to come up with a misspelling i haven't seen at least 10 times.
I am so sorry, though, that you and your family are afflicted with most illnesses known to man. Anybody got spadmodic torticollis?
I do have a juris doctorate and I'm pretty goid at arguing. But that's not why I'm on this site. Is it why you're here?
Megheart aitarg35939
Posted
Do you believe the powder to be on the exterior of the airbags?
It is the mere fact that I have widespread bilateral cylindrical bronchiectasis which caused me a few weeks ago (in the middle of the night....always in the middle of the night-hehe) to think of the airbag scenario which caused me to feel panicky at the thought of having my face embedded in one for goodness knows how long, waiting for HELP to arrive. It was then that I thought of putting a small pocket knife in the driver's side door compartment but on second thoughts perhaps scissors may be a better idea - simply, grab and jab! No fumbling to open them like a pocket knife.....quite apart from any legal impediment.
aitarg35939 Megheart
Posted
Good news on one front: if properly made, the bags have holes around their edges through which the argon gas begins it's escape after the compression via weight of our lively heads. Unfortunately they are still nylon coated with talcum, the powder being there to help the fabric move rapidly and easily. They don't mention it but it's probably there to cut down on static cling. Sometimes even healthy folks have trouble with the talcum.
The bags don't go completely flat instantly, which is why folks can't drive their cars immediately after some very innocuous collisions. I don't know exactly what all the problems were that caused all the recalls in the last few years.
I also don't know that my car still has airbags. It was originally equipped with both front and side-window bags. I bought it on a salvage title in '09. It had been in a front-end wreck.
It won't hurt to have scissors around. If You're in the states, and I think in England, carrying a knife of a useful size is problematic. Scissors are more defensible and they are far easier on our hands when opening bags & packages, cutting tape, etc., plus of course the added bennie of being safer than knives, lol.