What is the SIR system?

[BigAls87Z28]

Had a question today at work regarding a brake switch and having to disable the SIR system. I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. what does it mean?

[m100]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

Had a question today at work regarding a brake switch and having to disable the SIR system. I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. what does it mean?

Airbag System

[dr.gizmo]

Supplemental Inflatable Restraint. They use that name to enforce the fact you still need to use seat belts as the airbags only supplement the seatbelt system not replace it.

[Uzzy]

What happened to SRS?

[dr.gizmo]

Acronyms at GM change faster than the names on the doors of the executives offices.

[Buick61]

SIR, SRS, SIRS were all different acronyms used in the 1980s and early 1990s by various car companies. Then everyone just decided to dumb it down a notch by saying "airbag."

Alex is just too young to remember those days.

They used those terms because all cars built after some month I forgot in 1989 had to have a supplemental means of restraint, since Americans were so bad with buckling up.

Some car companies when the weird/cheap/annoying route and used automatic seatbelts. Usually those were the Japanese companies and, IIRC, Saturn.

So, automatic seatbelts were Supplemental Restraint Systems, while Airbags were Supplemental INFLATABLE Restraint Systems, just as a distinction.

[dr.gizmo]

My head still hurts from those automatic seat belts. Every time I reached in through the door to turn on the key the darn seatbelt would travel from the front to the rear and catch my head. They never ever think of the poor mechanics when they design this stuff!

[m100]

Originally Posted by dr.gizmo

My head still hurts from those automatic seat belts. Every time I reached in through the door to turn on the key the darn seatbelt would travel from the front to the rear and catch my head. They never ever think of the poor mechanics when they design this stuff!

I had those on my 92 Infiniti G20 as well. I think they did away with them in the 93 MY.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Buick61

SIR, SRS, SIRS were all different acronyms used in the 1980s and early 1990s by various car companies. Then everyone just decided to dumb it down a notch by saying "airbag."

Alex is just too young to remember those days.

They used those terms because all cars built after some month I forgot in 1989 had to have a supplemental means of restraint, since Americans were so bad with buckling up.

Some car companies when the weird/cheap/annoying route and used automatic seatbelts. Usually those were the Japanese companies, and IIRC, Saturn.

So, automatic seatbelts were Supplemental Restraint Systems, while Airbags were Supplemental INFLATABLE Restraint Systems, just as a distinction.

The Ford Escort and Probe had them as well, but they were essentially Mazdas anyway. I don't know of any other American cars besides the Saturns that did it.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by Buick61

Some car companies when the weird/cheap/annoying route and used automatic seatbelts. Usually those were the Japanese companies and, IIRC, Saturn.

Ahhhh I remember that damn thing on my dad's Saturn. Fascinated the hell out of me when I was little.

[Aura XR]

until the mousebelt stops working

Fortunately, when my mousebelt in my Saturn stopped working, it stopped at full latch. Now I just reach over and unfasten the shoulder belt

[dr.gizmo]

Originally Posted by Buick61

SIR, SRS, SIRS were all different acronyms used in the 1980s and early 1990s by various car companies. Then everyone just decided to dumb it down a notch by saying "airbag."

Alex is just too young to remember those days.

They used those terms because all cars built after some month I forgot in 1989 had to have a supplemental means of restraint, since Americans were so bad with buckling up.

Some car companies when the weird/cheap/annoying route and used automatic seatbelts. Usually those were the Japanese companies and, IIRC, Saturn.

So, automatic seatbelts were Supplemental Restraint Systems, while Airbags were Supplemental INFLATABLE Restraint Systems, just as a distinction.

It seems they have blurred the acronyms yet again, on the way home I glanced down at the steering wheel and it says SRS. I drive a 2001 Grand Am with driver and passenger airbags and no automatic seat belts. Working on these cars we often find the same system will have different names depending on division. It seems they call it whatever they think will sell.

[Buick61]

Originally Posted by dr.gizmo

It seems they have blurred the acronyms yet again, on the way home I glanced down at the steering wheel and it says SRS. I drive a 2001 Grand Am with driver and passenger airbags and no automatic seat belts. Working on these cars we often find the same system will have different names depending on division. It seems they call it whatever they think will sell.

Both automatic seatbelts and airbags are supplemental restraint systems. So, I think when the both existed at the same time, SIRS or SIR was used to distinguish between the airbag variety and the seatbelt variety. By the time 2001 happened, there was only the airbag kind, so SRS could only mean airbag.

[BigAls87Z28]

I figured it had to do with something like that, as it asked "if equiped".

Thank you guys.

[cdp326]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

The Ford Escort and Probe had them as well, but they were essentially Mazdas anyway. I don't know of any other American cars besides the Saturns that did it.

The Ford Tempo used them as well, as well as the Thunderbird (not sure when it started with them but it had them through '93). I don't think 1980s Escorts were as Mazda-based as the 1990s ones, though Mercury Tracer always was. The Mercury Villager used motorized belts too, which is kind of odd as it didn't really need to have them, but it must have been dictated by Nissan.

I actually can't think of a Ford that did use door-mounted seatbelts. A few Honda coupes used door-mounted belts, though - late '80s Accord hatch and coupe, Prelude, for example.

Chrysler mostly went straight to airbags, IIRC, except for a couple '94-95 cars at the end of their run which added a single passenger side motorized belt to meet new standards until replacement models came out (Sundance/Shadow, maybe Spirit/Acclaim).

There were a few vehicles where American-spec models used motorized seatbelts while Canadian-spec models used regular seatbelts, weren't there?