MTS-Airbag Tester for safe testing of airbag connections in vehicle production

Testing the connections of airbag ignition elements has a high safety risk for the testing staff. Any defects in the wiring harness or in the test system can cause an airbag to be triggered accidentally during the testing process. This not only destroys the airbag, but can also lead to serious injuries to the person performing the test. To prevent this risk for workers on the production line, DSA has developed a safe test procedure for testing the electrical connection between the airbag ignition elements and the wiring harness.

Isolated testing system for a safe test procedure

In the new MTS-Airbag Tester, the test electronics are located in a separate housing that is galvanically isolated from the rest of the testing system. Preferably, the test electronics are installed in a hand-held adapter. The galvanic separation prevents electrical energy from reaching the airbag’s ignition elements, which could trigger the airbag. The data exchange takes place via a dedicated isolated CAN bus.

Before each single measurement, a self-test of the MTS-Airbag Tester is carried out. This ensures that the electronics used for measurements are functioning correctly and are properly adjusted. The test of the connecting wires of the ignition pill starts only, if the self-test has been successful performed. The MTS-Airbag Tester checks that there are no short-circuits to ground or to the vehicle voltage. The test results show whether the airbag is correctly installed or whether there is a fault such as a short-circuit, cable break or an incorrectly connected connector.

Documented safety test

The test results recorded by the MTS-Airbag Tester can be transferred to a superior test system. In this way, a recorded proof of the safety test can be created. This allows the airbag test to be easily integrated into the DSA PRODIS test system. In addition, the MTS-Airbag Tester can also be operated stand-alone, in which case the results are displayed via LEDs and digital inputs/outputs.

Find out more about the MTS-Airbag Tester.

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