How can I be sure my auto air bags actually function?

DON’T MUCK WITH THEM!!! Trust the diagnostic! Turn on the ignition and look for the airbag light. It should go on momentarily. If your airbag light turns off that is your best indicator that it will work. If the light stays on, you have a problem.
You can’t test the squib or anything else in there. Don’t try it! You can be killed if you do it wrong. Really!

It is a fact that airbags have saved a lot of lives with very few failures. I have worked with them and have set off quite a few intentionally for testing. There is a lot of energy packed in that package. Think of it like a 12 ga, 3 inch magnum shotgun shell. Don’t play with it. Don’t touch the connector. Don’t poke around for the squib. Leave it alone.

Wouldn’t a dealership have a diagnostic computer that could check them?

The dealership can check the same things as the internal diagnostic. Think of the airbag like an explosive. (It is.) You can check the wires but you can’t check the explosive without detonating it. – and you do not want to do that!

Airbag diagnostics are integrated into the OBDII system. Your car will turn on the light if anything is wrong. If you get the light then you can either read the code yourself or take it to the dealer. Until then leave it alone!

Run into a brick wall at 45 MPH. That should do it. lol
Actually, I have been wondering the same thing, mine have never had cause to deploy and my car is over 10 years old. Good question.

Oooh…all my lights for the various functions are working, sooo, does this mean all’s good @LuckyGuy ? Excellent knowledge.

As long as they go off as well, that is an indicator that they are working, as @LuckyGuy pointed out if the light stays on,or doesn’t come on at all when the ignition is first started that is a sign of a problem, and sorry I am not @LuckyGuy but I know that as well.

@rojo 18 year old?? pretty good I bought my Dodge brand new 16 years ago and it’s still going great.

Check your owner’s manual. There should be, or may be, a light on the dash that comes on when you start the car that tells if the circuit is functioning. ((The light can also be checked without starting the car by turning the ignition key to the “engine run” position (All dash lights should come on as this is a test position to make sure all of the lights work.). That is the point just before the spring loaded “start” position.”)) Air bags need to be replaced after so many years since they may deteriorate, so check with the dealer.

There’s a light (there is a song in here somewhere) There’s a liiiiiiiiiiight. and it comes on and goes off like it should. There is also a key slot to enable/disable the passenger side that I don’t think I have ever messed with but it too is enabled.
I was not planning on messing with it. It was just a question that came to mind after listening to Public Access Radio about the GM ignition switch settlement and how it would shut itself off and the key fall out which then turned off the air bags so you had no engine power, no power steering and no air bags when you did finally come to a screeching halt crashing into something.

Let me repeat… Don’t mess with it!!!. Got it? (Now I’ll tell you something interesting.)

If you decide to check the airbag (like a curious engineer might be) with an older style volt meter you can get killed by the blast. What?! It’s not plugged in! Yep, the small current applied by the meter to check continuity can be over the threshold to fire the squib. Blammo! It can be lights out. So how do we prevent that? First it is intentionally very difficult to take the connector apart. I can hear it now. “What were those f-ing engineers thinking? Obviously they don’t have to work on these.” Then we do something really tricky. When the connector is finally opened, a small, hidden, internal spring-loaded short closes on the contacts. You plug the meter in and it reads Zero ohms. You think “It must be good”, and stop messing with it.
You’re welcome!

If you ever get your hands on a free airbag and want to play, PM me.

In my 1997 Honda Civic, the airbag status light is labeled SRS, which stands for Supplemental Restraint System.

@LuckyGuy

Is mucking with the airbags a good way to test them? ;-p

@Incoherency_ Actually it is a good way to test. Once.
The outcome of a “mucking about” test is the same either way: You, need to buy a new airbag. However one way you might have to pay for a hospital visit in addition to the airbag.

Important! My information is for General Motors vehicles. I don’t know what Honda does. It might be the same – or might not. I still wouldn’t play with them.

Oh, forget this uber politeness, do not FUCK with your airbags. lol

@Brian1946 Supplemental restraint system, sounds like a law enforcement term. haha
I need lots of DSS Driver survival space. :-p

@Coloma Sounds more like legalese; the language of those you deal with after dealing with law enforcement. But it’s technically accurate as it’s a system that supplements the seatbelts in the role of restraining the occupants in a collision.

As for the other, those are still called “crumple zones”.