Blown Air Bags

[Big Z]

FYI--Talking to a Hummer Tech yesterday about Problems with H2's. He said they replaced more air bladders than any thing else. He said the problem is drivers are airing up (max inflation) of the air system, hitting pot holes, speed bumps, and other areas where the weight of the H2 coming down hard on the rear axle, blows the bags. Just food for thought!

[Big Z]

FYI--Talking to a Hummer Tech yesterday about Problems with H2's. He said they replaced more air bladders than any thing else. He said the problem is drivers are airing up (max inflation) of the air system, hitting pot holes, speed bumps, and other areas where the weight of the H2 coming down hard on the rear axle, blows the bags. Just food for thought!

[JJ]

What??? I thought the advantage of the air system was to be able to add a bit more clearance from the rear body in off-road situations where you might encounter sudden weight re-distribution, i.e. coming down off of a steep incline into a wash...

Perhaps the caution is to air-up when needed but go slowly over obstacles - which is generally good advice.

good post - thanks for the caution

JJ

[Big Z]

JJ--couldn't have said it any better. This is pretty much what the tech had said.

[TJ]

I thought that the H2's air suspension was electronically controlled and automatically adjusts the height on its own. Are you talking about the height control button on the dash which allows you to raise the rear end an additional 2 inches? If so, it sounds like it might be a design problem or something because I thought that the height control was specifically designed for off road use. If people are using it on the road, hitting pot holes and speed bumps, they can't be going more than 20 mph - it's designed to automatically lower to normal height if your speed is greater than that.

[Steve R]

When you hit the height control it basically inflates the air-bags to their fullest, thus lifting the rear upwards...in their fully-inflated condition they have little absorbancy. Imagine a water balloon under lots of pressure....

When I come to obstacles that require clearance...I "raise my butt"....but once past the obstacle, push the button and bring yourself down. Remember too, the higher you are the higher your center of gravity: the less stable you are over side-slopes and angles. You also loose that cushioned ride when your cushion is firmly inflated. GM has their 'auto-ride' system, that's why we have, but thanks for a clever idea, they merely use this auto-ride airbag to fully inflate to give us greater height, BUT GREATER HEIGHT ONLYL WHEN YOU NEED IT.

Think of your height control just like your rear locker: used on when needed and released when not needed. I truly believe....it's that simple.

[Texas Red]

In reference to Big Z's original post. We (the driver) do not air up the system. We may overload the system by packing in too much weight, but we do not "air up" anything. And if only 10-15% of H2 drivers ever get off-road then this makes blown airbags even less likely.

(1) we can activate the rear hike feature for extra clearance, but that only works at less than 35 mph.

(2) the manual refers to a built in overload and overheat protection system for the air bags. So I don't know what you guys are talking about.

See manual pp. 2-38 and 2-39.

If there is an airbag problem, IMHO it sounds like a design issue. BTW has anybody on this forum has reported a blown airbag?

Jim
Red H2 in Texas

[This message was edited by Texas Red on December 29, 2002 at 12:41 PM.]

[This message was edited by Texas Red on December 29, 2002 at 12:42 PM.]

[TJ]

At least that's one problem that we haven't run into...not yet anyway!

But, after all the problems that we have experienced to date, I have become somewhat of an expert on the owner's manual, and to be truthful, I find the manual somewhat vague (contradictory?) about the height control (pp 2-39 and 2-40). To use it, the manual says that you must be moving at less than 35 mph...but then later on says that it will automatically disengage if the vehicle speed exceeds 20 mph. So, let's say that you're going 30--you can engage the height control since you're going less than 35 mph, but then won't it automatically kick out again because your speed is exceeding 20 mph? Very confusing... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

At any rate, we did find a smooth straight stretch of highway yesterday to test the height control feature out, no bumps or potholes and no worries about traffic out here where we are. It will engage at less 35 mph, but then did not automatically disengage until our speed reached 40 mph. So now I'm thinking that either there's a misprint in the owner's manual (20 mph vs. 40 mph) or maybe the system on our H2 is not "working to specs" - that's the lingo that our service dept manager uses. I will ask him about it...if he ever decides to call me back that is. He was supposed to call me back this past Friday about a question that I had about a SERVICE 4WD message that we got about a week and a half ago but I never did hear back from him. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]