Discharge in Auto Accident

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my Smith probably DIDN'T go off, and that it was probably the explosive belt tensioners. I will delete this thread later today in order to give everyone who commented a chance to see my follow-up. I apologize to the group.

You could edit your OP with a bold addition explaining what was found. People can read in the very first post that a Smith and Wesson did not actually discharge in your auto accident.

And people can also read that some automobiles now have an explosive device which tensions your seat belt, leaving you tightly strapped into your car to the point you will need to cut yourself out! (numerous eye rolls). This new feature will pair nicely with electric cars that have a torch you alive feature due to lithium batteries under your butt.
 
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Well, I'm embarrassed and am going to lose face but I'm not going to weasel away either. I went to the tow yard this morning and looked thoroughly for a shell and a hole, but couldn't find one. My magazine was down a round (7 rounds in an 8 round mag), but given everything else it's clear to me that my Smith probably DIDN'T go off, and that it was probably the explosive belt tensioners. I will delete this thread later today in order to give everyone who commented a chance to see my follow-up. I apologize to the group.

You didn’t weasel out, and I tip my hat to ya. No face lost brother. It was an unusual circumstance, we learned how tensioners explode, and you’re ok.
 
My guess is that the holster collapsed momentarily either allowing the gun to partially exit the holster and/or the deformation pushed the trigger.
 
I do hope that they catch the driver that started the whole thing. Hopefully an in car camera and some witnesses can help with that.

BTW good on you for not disclosing your initial thoughts to the officer. I am curious as to what would be the proper procedure?
 
I was bouncing probabilities about in my head until the tensioning device was mentioned, I’d forgotten about those. That immediate clamp-down on the OP’s holster certainly explains the bruised hip, too.

Airbag deployment is violent and extremely fast. I recall the first ever crash I went to with airbags deployed, it was a Mercedes sedan in the early 1990’s.

The driver had bruising to her face and forehead and swore up and down that the bags never deployed, she contended that they just fell out of the steering wheel like an empty sack so she hit her head on the wheel. She crowed to all the bystanders that she was going to sue M-B for a defective product, etc.

The paramedic from the fire department took her back over to the car, lifted the white airbag from where it drooped out of the wheel... and there was an imprint of the lady’s makeup on the bag that looked like those old Tammy Faye novelty T shirts. It had inflated and deflated so fast she never saw it.

This goes hand in hand with the explosive tensioners, they’ll have to lock you in place immediately to work in conjunction with the airbags. :what:

Stay safe.
 
Well, I'm embarrassed and am going to lose face but I'm not going to weasel away either. I will delete this thread later today in order to give everyone who commented a chance to see my follow-up. I apologize to the group.
This is good to hear.
Lots of learning in this thread but, I hope it does get deleted so that there is not a possibility of anyone dragging this anecdotally into the future as we've all seen with other items and topics.

One can imagine:

"... oh yeah.... that gun (or holster)? I heard about one going off in an accident one time."

Todd.
 
I was bouncing probabilities about in my head until the tensioning device was mentioned, I’d forgotten about those. That immediate clamp-down on the OP’s holster certainly explains the bruised hip, too.

Airbag deployment is violent and extremely fast. I recall the first ever crash I went to with airbags deployed, it was a Mercedes sedan in the early 1990’s.

The driver had bruising to her face and forehead and swore up and down that the bags never deployed, she contended that they just fell out of the steering wheel like an empty sack so she hit her head on the wheel. She crowed to all the bystanders that she was going to sue M-B for a defective product, etc.

The paramedic from the fire department took her back over to the car, lifted the white airbag from where it drooped out of the wheel... and there was an imprint of the lady’s makeup on the bag that looked like those old Tammy Faye novelty T shirts. It had inflated and deflated so fast she never saw it.

This goes hand in hand with the explosive tensioners, they’ll have to lock you in place immediately to work in conjunction with the airbags. :what:

Stay safe.

First one I ever went to was a *very* pregnant woman who had no idea her car HAD airbags, or what airbags even were. It was an interesting couple of minutes, I can tell you....

Larry
 
Wait wait wait a second now. Tensioners are an unacceptable outcome.

Go back and put a hole through your holster, pants, seat and floorboard so we can continue to attempt to figure it out what happened :neener:



I for one, did not know exploding tensioners existed.
 
Well, I've been educated a little about cars in a gun-forum. I've never heard of pyrotechnic seat-belt tensioners. Of course, I drive older cars that still use pendulum-actuated tensioners, the kind that like to lock you up momentarily whenever you make a sudden stop, or sometimes even when you hit a bump.
 
Well, I've been educated a little about cars in a gun-forum. I've never heard of pyrotechnic seat-belt tensioners. Of course, I drive older cars that still use pendulum-actuated tensioners, the kind that like to lock you up momentarily whenever you make a sudden stop, or sometimes even when you hit a bump.
I had no idea about this as well. Good education.
 
No ones asking but for my money this had been an informative thread, seems many of us didn’t have a clue about “ seat belt tensioners” I thought they sill used the inertia system.
This is good to hear.
Lots of learning in this thread but, I hope it does get deleted so that there is not a possibility of anyone dragging this anecdotally into the future as we've all seen with other items and topics.

One can imagine:

"... oh yeah.... that gun (or holster)? I heard about one going off in an accident one time."

Todd.
Got my vote to stay. Might even start coming up on Google. Funny how many things on guns gets a THR come back on a Google search.
 
Good to hear the gun didn't discharge. I had interest in this thread because I also carry a Shield in a DeSantis Mini Scabbard. Did not know about the explosive tensioners
 
One of the reasons new car insurance is so expensive is because many of those modern safety features that keep you safe usually do so at the expense of the car. It doesn’t take too many airbags and tensioners needing replaced to exceed the value of a car that’s just a few years old.

OP I’m curious about the bruise on your leg since the gun didn’t fire. Any hypothesis on how that happened?
 
OP I’m curious about the bruise on your leg since the gun didn’t fire. Any hypothesis on how that happened?
OP may not know, that 5 Gs over about a second does not leave a lot of time for human recollection.

Any amount of diagonal in the vectors also will introduce a twist which would pitch a person's legs into the tunnel or center console. Also, people in vehicle accidents occasionally injure themselves with their own limbs.
 
Heard back from one of my PE buddies. Said worthy was a passenger in a multi-car ±15 mph wreck. The forces involved ripped his paddle rig & P220 right off his hip which then tried to give him an appendectomy when the airbags deployed after the second impact.
The P220 had a couple of polished places it had not before, and the holster was trashed. All in the vehicle were ok, my bro did lose both the reading glasses on his chest and the sunglasses on his head.
 
I need to remember to disable my air bags when I take my daughter for a ride. I don't think her scoliosis of the spine could take another air bag slamming her. I should probably do that anyway since my '07 Mazda is from Canada and the dealership here hasn't gotten the notice for those faulty old air bags that can send shrapnel into you. I'm going to have to call Mazda myself since it was like talking to the wall at the dealership.
 
tensioner

is a pretensioner. An explosive charge actually turns the belt backwards.

The pendulum stops the belt. But can be used afterward. A pretensioner actually pull the belt back in. They are one time use but actuality rather cheap. 50-100 bucks. Whereas the airbags may be 10k. Very likely that bruised your leg. It's very rare for one to go off without the bags. And even more unlikely to go off in a rear end collision.

Buy a lottery ticket
 
Well, I'm embarrassed and am going to lose face but I'm not going to weasel away either.....I apologize to the group.
I know I'm late to the party and that the decision on whether to keep or delete has been made. That said, @Hazwaste, I'll say this: IMHO, you lost no face and there was no need for an apology. I carry a S&W Shield in a DeSantis Speed scabbard, so I was very interested in this thread, even if I couldn't find time to post until now. Like others in this thread, I'd never heard of these "pretensioner" thingamajigs, but I most certainly wanted to know what happened. Glad you're OK.
 
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