Airbag Smashes MacBook Into Man’s Chest, Leaves MacBook-Shaped Bruise

Leander Kahney ()

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The MacBook Air is thin, sexy machine, but you wouldn’t want one smashed into your chest during a car accident.

That’s what happened to this MacBook Air above. It was sitting in a man’s lap when the airbag went off and crushed it into his chest, bending the lid like a Taco. Amazingly, the computer still works, but it left a MacBook-shaped mark on the man’s chest. The man is lucky — the MacBook Air is thin enough to slice through bread and human flesh (see the pix after the jump).

“He does have a bruise that matches the leading edge of the MacBook Air,” says Dana Stibolt, president of MacMedics, the Maryland repair shop that’s attempting to fix the machine.

Stibolt says the man had the MacBook Air open in his lap as he sat in the passenger seat. When the car was involved in a serious smash, the airbag deployed and “pushed the top edge of the MacBook Air (where the camera is) into him, and then kept pushing from the bottom of the hinge area effectively crushing it on his chest,” says Stibolt. Ouch!

The picture on the screen – which looks like a black-and-white mountain — is the pattern of the broken LCD.

Stibolt is hoping to replace the screen — the rest of the computer seems to work fine. More at MacMedics.

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DON'T MISS

The MacBook Air is thin enough to slice bread and flesh, as some German forum members have demonstrated.

mba_cuts

17 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Hardware, News |

  • http://www.burnleyfansteam.co.uk Kev Robinson

    That first picture is brilliant. As if Macs were not fantastic as they are, now we discover that when broken they turn into modern art.

  • Justin Kila

    Looks like a painting of a mountain.

  • Eric

    Another feature Steve jobs put into our MacBooks: INVINSiBiLITY!!!

  • MacRat

    Aren’t airbags higher than lap level?

    Was he driving? ;-)

  • Rob Dern

    Golly whiz, do you think there’s any chance he might have been at fault in the accident?

  • monkeythepig

    > INVINSiBiLITY

    steve also put spell checking in there…

  • http://www.cyclelogicpress.com Partners in Grime

    MacBook AirBag.

    I wonder if the logo lights up on his chest?

  • http://www.rocknica.com Alberto Fernández

    Yeah… like Driving and having a macbook on yourlap is a great IDEA!!!!!

    people die cuse their dumb!… he’s lucky he didnt die

  • http://www.bramoosten.co.cc Bram Oosten.

    The pattern of the broken LCD is just incredible! I made a wallpaper of it in case anyone wants to use it: http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8786/macbookmountainwallpape.png

  • Verhaus

    Ever thought he could of been the passenger.. u idiots

  • Brockway

    It says he was in the passenger seat, not driving.

  • Jilly

    The man was in the passenger seat. Unless he can push the gas with his mind, I doubt he was driving. Morons.

  • Kristen

    That’s probably the most interesting picture of a Macbook tarnished, and this is the first one I’ve seen like that. Jeez, that had to hurt. >.<

  • http://boringhamradiopart.blogger.com Bill Coleman

    While I figured he was in the passenger’s seat, it does point out the danger of using this type of equipment in a moving vehicle. In an accident, anything not secured becomes and instant (and potentially deadly) projectile.

  • http://www.matecha.net/ amatecha

    Yeah, ever notice the warnings on the window visors that say “never place any objects between yourself and the airbag”? That’s exactly why. If the airbag deploys, it’s going to send whatever object flying with extreme force right into you. It’s probably killed tons of people.

  • nthn

    Bahah! My first though? At least the screen still works. …I thought it was a picture of a mountain on the screen, lol. What can I say, it’s really late.

  • KodyTroje

    Wow… poor guy. Mac FTW!!! Had that been a PC, not only would it have knocked him out, the damage would have been more severe, those stupid clunkers… Even the super-thin MacBook Air can stand up to a crash. I’d like to see an HP or an Asus stand up to that, and still be functional. Replacing the screen? Good idea. I’m surprised the HDD survived that… Unless he’s got an SSD in there.