I'm not sure about the odds. But I've always been afraid of the piece that holds the air bag in, when that thing flies off, it can break your nose!

It depends greatly on how well your car is made. I knew someone that had a 2000 ford focus that hit her brakes hard in an emergency braking maneuver and her airbags went off. She ended up winning something like $6,000 dollars from Ford, and they paid off her car as well. Most are triggered to go off if you hit a solid, non deformable object (like a wall of steel...) at speeds of 14 MPH or greater. However, the speed at which the airbag will activate in accidents is much higher, as the back bumpers of most cars deform enough to require a higher speed. Supposedly if you hit a bad pot hole, or drop off a curb too quickly, than your airbags may go off. I don't see this happening, unless you drop off the edge of an extremely tall curb, and the front of your car hits something, or you hit a pothole at extremely high speeds. If the sensor wires get shorted, I supposed it is entirely possible that it will go off, but your supposed to have your airbag replaced ever 5 years or so, and they would probably inspect these wires at that time. I know side impact airbags go off a lot easier, as generally people that get hit from the side in cars or small SUVs and vans, have ther head go out the window, which can result in brain damage, particularly frontal lobe damage. So If you were sitting in a parking lot and somebody hit the side of your car where a sensor was, it is possible it may set them off (doubt your car has side impact airbags though, as it's too old) and they are not as harmful as the other ones. There is also some vehicles that have side curtain airbags that come down in the event of a rollover. Feasibly if you were to exceed the angle at which they were set to go off, without actually rolling, they may go off as well. I would say though, that none of these situations are very likely. You just have to hope that they won't happen, and that if your airbags do deploy, they do so appropriately for an accident, causing less injury than would a car without airbags.

I have a 2006 honda civic si and on new years at like 3 in the morning my damn airbags went off for no apparent reason. Im actually trying to find out some information on that now. I smashed me in the face and made a loud explosion sound that left a ringing in my ears for hours. Luckily I was just pulling into a drive way if i was driving on the highway or on a tight street I would be either seriously hurt or killed right now....

My brother drives a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am, and earlier today, when he got in his car and started it up, the airbag went off and cut the side of his head. i dont know what happened. im just looking for answers. Thank god he wasnt driving when it happened.

i would try not to think about it, it might never happen

You would end up with a big fluffy bag in your face.