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BCA notes that their Float 1.0 bags aren't good beyond 5 years, or 10 year shelf life if not inflated. Would anyone actually be concerned about using a 10ish year old Float 1.0 if it test fired OK?
Just curious if this is a real issue of degradation of the plastics or more along the lines of bottled water having expiration dates because of FDA mandates type of guideline.
Appreciate any thoughts / feedback.
Well, plastic does degrade. I’d probably follow the recommendation. Can you replace the plastic?
I wouldn't sweat it. Pull out the airbag and try to tear the bag by pulling it apart with a reasonable force. If it feels solid, I'd run it.
If you the mfg, why not say five years? You'd be officially covering your ass, and possibly selling a new pack. Win-win for the mfg.
If it's truly dangerous they send recall notices to everyone who has vehicles that came with that part registered to them. I've gotten those jacked up Takeda air bags in my 2009 replaced twice for free. Wear your seat belt just to be extra sure..
Appreciate the responses, all. My thought was it's a CYA warning - that said the whole reason for getting an airbag pack is to CYA so I will bite the bullet on a newer model if I decide to go for it this season.
One factor to consider, try to inspect the entire trigger cable assembly. When test firing some ~5 year old bags (used daily by patrollers with at times 50+ pound loads) we experienced a few catastrophic trigger cable breaks which did not deploy the bag. This was due to the cable just being worn down from rubbing in the shoulder strap. As far as the integrity of the airbag itself, I would guess if it doesn't have obvious wear at the fold creases it should be fine.
If you can't inspect the integrity of the whole system to include checking for fray or just worn metal, pass on it.
Yeah, ABS has the same warnings:
-Activation handles have an expiration date.It contains .2grams of explosives. Plastic deteriorates and can cause premature deployment. No handle should be used for more than 3 years.
-Practice activation. This entails deployment right? The replacement canister and handle costs about $300. (and this is before you use it once!).
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This is great info - thank you all. I was leaning towards one of the electric / fan packs and this makes me think that's a smarter idea. The ability to travel with it if I ever wanted to, to test fire it, etc makes it seem worth the additional cost.