# "Honking Fail" video for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981 "2008-08-14T15:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/1 "2008-08-14T15:09:10Z")
[This video here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGBcY2IoFSg), while entertaining as all hell, strikes me as a professional set-up rather than an amateur video of a real life event. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/2 "2008-08-14T15:14:35Z")
:dubious: If that’s all it takes for a the airbag to deploy, I’d be afraid to drive the car. Also, if the guy is dickish enough to honk at the LOL, then surely he’d be yelling as well. Honks tend to go with yells (or gestures) IME. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/3 "2008-08-14T15:16:57Z")
Yeah, it smells like a setup to me. That the dude holding the camera just happened to swing it over to the car before the little scene played out doesn’t ring true. If the camera had swung over after the honk, I’d lean toward real. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/4 "2008-08-14T15:24:24Z")
The airbag switches I’m familiar with are inertia switches. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but for the airbag to go off, the car has to decelerate from 40MPH to zero in say 10’. The only way that video would work is if the old lady whacked the car hard enough to accelerate it from zero to 40 in 10’. I say faked. ETA: I cant’ acess youtube from work. I’m assuming the video is the one of an old lady getting honked at in a crosswalk and then whacking the bumper of the car with her purse which deploys the airbag. If it’s not that video - I have no opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/5 "2008-08-14T15:28:49Z")
I have no idea whether it’s real or faked, but I know that Failblog didn’t do it since I saw it a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/6 "2008-08-14T15:28:58Z")
Obviously faked. That’s not what an airbag looks like when it goes off. And clearly, that would never set off an airbag. It boggles my mind that you would even imagine that it was real. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/7 "2008-08-14T15:43:01Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] ETA: I cant’ acess youtube from work. I’m assuming the video is the one of an old lady getting honked at in a crosswalk and then whacking the bumper of the car with her purse which deploys the airbag. If it’s not that video - I have no opinion. [/QUOTE] It is. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/8 "2008-08-14T17:24:29Z")
[It’s an IKEA commercial.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_N0PZvX1Lw) For _what_ I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/9 "2008-08-15T00:17:31Z")
I was involved in an actual crash that was not enough to deploy the airbag. No way a lady whacking the front of the car with a handbag would set it off. And what the heck does that video have to do with IKEA? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/10 "2008-08-15T00:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=Tamex] I was involved in an actual crash that was not enough to deploy the airbag. No way a lady whacking the front of the car with a handbag would set it off. And what the heck does that video have to do with IKEA? [/QUOTE] Maybe if you are impatient with LOLs in IKEA they hit you with their purses? ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/11 "2008-08-15T00:42:08Z")
What about that scene in Fight Club where they were setting off airbags by whacking cars with baseball bats? Is that plausible? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/12 "2008-08-15T01:27:45Z")
[QUOTE=Tamex] And what the heck does that video have to do with IKEA? [/QUOTE] Assemble-them-yourself lead-lined purses? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/13 "2008-08-15T01:47:45Z")
I used to live next to a dip. There was a sign that warned, DIP, 10 m.p.h., but a couple of dozen people per week did not take that advice, and about once a month the resulting bump was enough to set off the airbags. (Losing hubcaps was much more common.) A friend’s daughter was in a parking lot pretending she was going to hit another teenager. The other teenager, cooperating in the fiction, flung herself against my friend’s car. She hit at just the right spot–the airbag went off. So if you hit just the right spot, you can do it, on certain cars. I think the car in question was a Toyota. ETA:obviously this does not mean the video wasn’t faked. It just means it doesn’t necessarily take all that much to set off the airbag. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/14 "2008-08-15T02:00:54Z")
I find it hard to believe that anyone could set off an airbag by flinging themself into a car. There’s really isn’t a “right spot” the accelerometer isn’t going to move differently from one place to another depending on where you hit the car. You have to move the car and unless the person is moving very, very fast, (enough to move the car) this isn’t going to be enough. The kids may have indeed told that story, but I don’t see it as likely. A big bump taken at speed could cause an airbag to go off but it would involve the car taking a big bounce. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/15 "2008-08-15T04:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] I find it hard to believe that anyone could set off an airbag by flinging themself into a car. There’s really isn’t a “right spot” the accelerometer isn’t going to move differently from one place to another depending on where you hit the car. You have to move the car and unless the person is moving very, very fast, (enough to move the car) this isn’t going to be enough. The kids may have indeed told that story, but I don’t see it as likely. A big bump taken at speed could cause an airbag to go off but it would involve the car taking a big bounce. [/QUOTE] Well, my friend wondered about the veracity of that story. But all three girls (driver, passenger, friend who threw herself on the car) confirmed it, the airbag had indeed deployed, and there were no speed bumps in that parking lot. In their version Kari (my friend’s daughter) was racing the engine and pretending she was going for the other girl but was not actually moving, we figured she might have been moving, but in any case nobody was hurt. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/16 "2008-08-15T04:38:57Z")
Fake. Airbags don’t inflate, they explode. The thing goes from nothing, to deployed, and limp in the blink of an eye. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/17 "2008-08-15T05:24:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] Well, my friend wondered about the veracity of that story. But all three girls (driver, passenger, friend who threw herself on the car) confirmed it, the airbag had indeed deployed, and there were no speed bumps in that parking lot. In their version Kari (my friend’s daughter) was racing the engine and pretending she was going for the other girl but was not actually moving, we figured she might have been moving, but in any case nobody was hurt. [/QUOTE] Maybe the girls were involved in a minor accident that left no visible damage on the bumper but was sufficient to deploy the airbag, and concocted that story rather than tell the truth to the driver’s parents? While it does seem unlikely that any impact light enough to leave no visible damage would deploy the airbag, it is perhaps more plausible than the “girl hits the bumper” story. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/18 "2008-08-15T05:30:17Z")
[QUOTE=Who\_me?] I have no idea whether it’s real or faked, but I know that Failblog didn’t do it since I saw it a couple of years ago. [/QUOTE] I don’t think Failblog claims to make the videos - they just collect them together so people like me can enjoy them. **Hilarity** , those young people fooling around with cars like that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Cars are frequently deadly; they’re not toys. **treis** , you reminded me of an old roommate who was in an accident that caused her airbag to deploy - she got a broken nose and either a badly sprained or broken wrist out of it. She wasn’t a small woman, either - she was the same height as your average guy. ---
**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/19 "2008-08-15T07:13:55Z")
I have no cite for it, but I heard of a driver whose airbag deployed as a result of his over enthusiastic tapping to the tunes from his radio. Possible? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981/20 "2008-08-15T13:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=papaw] I have no cite for it, but I heard of a driver whose airbag deployed as a result of his over enthusiastic tapping to the tunes from his radio. Possible? Yes. [/QUOTE] Only if there was a fault in the steering wheel switch, which has happened in the past. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honking-fail-video-for-real/459981.md?page=2)