Nelson Ireson
Contributing Journalist
10 May 2013
2 min read

You might think you'd have to be drunk to crash your car into a tree to make sure your airbags are working correctly. You'd be wrong.

You might also think you can stuff your airbags back into their containers after they've deployed, making them ready to go for another round. You'd still be wrong.

You might even think the German man who did all of these things was clearly under the influence of some other psychotropic drug, if he wasn't drunk. Wrong again.

A German man has proved all of these things with his contribution to the world of the automotive research.Ā Uwe Schrager, 45, performed his ill-advised experiment in the Lower Saxony region of central Germany recently, reports the Austrian Times.

When police arrived to sort the "accident" scene -- after another motorist reported seeing a Ford Mondeo ram into a tree --Ā  Schrager explained his methodology: he had first crashed into two walls at lower speeds without deploying the airbags, and then embarked on the tree encounter.

"I knew that the car was fitted with airbags but I didn't trust that they would work, so I wanted to test them. I felt it was better to have a low speed crash that I was likely to survive if they didn't work rather than a high-speed crash when I only found out when it was too late that they didn't work," the Austrian Times cited him as saying.

He added that he had expected to be able to repack the airbags back in their places after they deployed, but had discovered he wasn't able to do so. He also thought his insurance company would cover him for the damage to his car, but was also informed they would not compensate for deliberate crashes.

His licence has been confiscated, and he has been ordered to be evaluated for psychiatric issues

The police spokesman told the Austrian times: "They will need to carry out psychiatric test to determine whether the man is suitable to have a licence at all. He had apparently crashed into two walls at lower speeds before he finally hit the tree. That is not normal behaviour."

www.motorauthority.com

Nelson Ireson
Contributing Journalist
Nelson Ireson is a former CarsGuide contributor and Motor Authority journalist, and is currently the Senior Editor atĀ Automobile Magazine.
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