tech air/d-air not deploying

I had a low side with tumbling and my tech air vest didn't deploy. Just looked at the data and it shows a deployment and a sensor error.

I called alpinestars and the service guy says he has not heard of the suit not deploying when needed - I told him he may not have heard but it certainly has occurred. He wasn't too helpful.

Anyone else expecting their airbag to deploy and it didn't work as expected?

 

I’ve low sided twice in my a Mithos suit with tech air. The bag did not deploy in either crash. I just assumed they didn’t go off because both crashes were relatively slow

 

Have known a couple people who have them in their RS Taichi suits, didnt deploy on crashes where they should've.

 

How do you know the suit did not deploy?

 

It takes some time to deflate.

 

Mine went off fine in the Taichi suit. There's almost no chance the suit brand has anything to do with it since there's nothing associated with the electronics except the indicator lights. The airbag will work w/o it plugged in, even.

 

I have had two crashes in my D-air and one deployment. The first was a slow-ish (40 mph?) low side. It was one of those crashes where you have your knee down and all of a sudden the bike is sliding away from you and you're like hey, what the hell? No tumbling, and the suit didn't inflate.

The second low side, probably the same speed, but the front folded and before my ass hit the ground, the suit blew up. It's supposed to trigger based on certain parameters, and it doesn't inflate if you don't have any violent moves or below 30 MPH I think.

I sent it back for repair to Anthony's leatherworks, they are right down the street from Dainese HQ in Cali, so they repacked the suit in a week and I had it back with repair and dye job about 3 weeks later.

 

Would be a good idea to log in to the tech air site and see the status of your vest and any errors. My vest shows sensor error but alpinestars representative says it is not a problem. My vest also now shows a deployment after firmware update but it didn't deploy.

 

I had a low-side Saturday morning at Barber, and now my Tech Air Race shows only 1 charge left (it had 2 charges going into that morning). And yet, I have no recollection of the vest going off. I got up as soon as I stopped rolling, rode my bike back to my pit area, and it was only when my buddy asked me whether my suit had deployed, that I even thought about it. I have no reason to believe it didn't deploy like it says it did. I was preoccupied with whether I was injured, how my bike was, and very well didn't even notice it had deployed.

 

Stop crashing like a nancy and do it right...it will work.

 

I had one of those in T1 at BeaverRun (air suits were not a thing back then) and, like you, I was like "WHAT? I'M CRASHING? WTF?" About that time the bike, sliding harmlessly on its side, hit the outside curbing and, yes, oh yes...there was tumbling. More like a High Dive Triple Lindy as the frame slider rode up the curbing and launched the bike into spins, flips, rolls and, eventually, a firm stop as it plowed itself into the ground, totaled. Amazingly, nothing broke off...just bent to shit, snapped, crackled and popped. I was fine.

The real bummer? First session, first hot lap...the front tire warmer had failed. That experience taught me to feel the tires after removing the warmers and before putting my gloves on. (I did check that they were warming when I installed them).

 

I will definitely check it out. We spend tons of money for the technology so we might ad well be sure its working properly. Thanks

 

I can't speak for the Alpinestars, but I will tell you that if the D-air inflates, you darn well know it. You can't get your arms down for several minutes- it wasn't until I was in the crash truck that the bag finally deflated. I was walking around like the kid in A Christmas Story.

 

I'd say that was my experience w/ the A* airbag too. I definitely felt the suit pop when I was midair before hitting the ground, and climbed over the Armco before the suit deflated to the point of me not noticing it.

It's also relative to how tight your suit is too, I was rather...ambitious with my suit size.

 

I had same issue couple weeks ago..how are you able to see the status or how many deployments there have been or are left???
I Made the mistake of buying one used. Guy said it was all good (NO deployment). Now they are back order. As soon as the new come in I’m getting a new one....
Thx

 

You can send it back to A* to recharge... for 1/5th the price of a new one.

To see the stats, you need a PC and their software.

Start here: https://techair.alpinestars.com

 

The LED's tell you how many charges are left. Close the flaps by the chest, and after the single light flashes for 3 seconds to tell you how much battery is left, the green and orange LED's will come on. If the green LED is solid, that means 2 charges are left. If the green LED is flashing slowly, that means 1 charge is left.

 

Thanks

 

DK: You switched to A*? What's the thinking behind that?

 

Just another point to consider- fit of the suit/jacket will have a major impact on how easily you can tell if the airbag has deployed. If you have a suit that is more "generous" then it may have too much volume and you may not notice the deployment as easily with a suit that is a bit on the "snug" side of the equation.

Loose suit and adrenaline of the moment, you may not notice deployment. But the algorithm and suit electronics don't lie usually.