I had air bags installed in the back of my Commodore. No drama there, chassis is designed to take the load at the point (of course).
I was stating a personal preference there - "I have no love for these devices" and I really should have been specific and said "on leaf spring suspended vehicles" because I found them to be great on the Commodore.
If they strengthen the area where the air bag makes contact with the chassis it would improve things, but even if you make the chassis 100% stronger around the impact zone, you still lose flexibility because your suspension can't compress as far as it would if the airbags aren't there.
I have and do acknowledge that some people find them useful and have no issues. Most of the "horror stories" relate to either overloading or not driving to the conditions. What was the last one, guy hit a causeway at 90km/h or something and the car + van went airborne? Not exactly the fault of the airbags and things could easily have gone pear-shaped without the airbags at those speeds.
But I have a preference against them, I prefer to use dual-rate springs because I get the support and the flexibility that I need.
Sorry if I come across as "negative all the time". They're good for some, not for me, and if you're asking me for my opinion about what my choice would be, I'd post it the same way again.