Misjudged a car pulling out from a junction today. I saw it was clear but the old bloke in front stopped fully so I drove into the back of him. Didn’t see it or have time just a bang as my head hit the steering wheel and my sunnies fell off. Was doing about 35kmh but the air bags didn’t deploy which I thought was unusual. Anyhoo totally smashed my front end and his tow bar has mangled the radiator. I’m a bit sore now but otherwise ok. Only myself to blame.

Is there a speed the bags are meant to deploy? It was a fair whack tbh.

Quick research suggest 16-28mph or even higher, so not necessarily failing at 35kph. Drive a bit faster into something and see if it goes off. Good luck…

An airbag going off in your face for that wouldn’t have been pleasant. So sounds about right.

Yeah no….

Always preferred not to crash. First in 24 years of driving. Hopefully last. New car too. Grr

I burst a tyre on a rock at the side of the road and set off the airbag in my passenger seat. They are **** loud. My ears were ringing for days.

Sounds more like your seating position was to blame. Where you leaning forwards to see out of the junction? Seat too far forward?

Airbags will go off if the accelerations sensed are high enough. If there is a fault the dash light should be on.

Another thing to make sure of course is if the previous owner has removed the airbag light due to a fault. This should be flagged on an MOT though as they would notice the light doesnt come on with the ignition like your ABS one.

Its worked exactly how it should, they only go off at certain speeds and impacts.

Andy L it was a long curved left hand junction that joins a main road. Seating position fine, was looking towards right shoulder saw there was heaps of time to pull out but the old dude in front stopped to look and bang. I’m 6’2″ so seat plenty back and the car was new and ex dealer demo

Drac Yeah maybe but I’ve seen them go off with much less force and impact. Front end of my car is pretty bashed in (it is mainly plastic but for the other guys tow bar to push the radiation to where it is now)

Anyway I’m fine, red mark in neck from seat belt, sore cheekbone from steering wheel. The other guy was fine. The rest is just metal, plastic and insurance.

Anyone seen the clip of the old and new Renault Espace having a head on driver side collision?

Driver dummy in the old one would have died due to injuries indicated. Driver in the new one would have walked away unscathed and the airbags didn’t even go off. Both cars were totalled, newer one’s crumple zones did their job and slowed the rate of deceleration to acceptable limits. Old one just crumpled up, penetrated into the cabin and stopped much more violently.

” accelerations sensed are high enough”

I rather suspect they go off if accelerations are low enough, rather than high enough.

Hmm – I’m going to ask the question that everyone else wants to. Did you have your seatbelt on properly?

Driver dummy in the old one would have died due to injuries indicated. Driver in the new one would have walked away unscathed and the airbags didn’t even go off. Both cars were totalled, newer one’s crumple zones did their job and slowed the rate of deceleration to acceptable limits. Old one just crumpled up, penetrated into the cabin and stopped much more violently.

I don’t need to I remember those days seeing the real thing

Drac Yeah maybe but I’ve seen them go off with much less force and impact. Front end of my car is pretty bashed in (it is mainly plastic but for the other guys tow bar to push the radiation to where it is now)

They tend to not go off in the case of a shunt like yours, as demonstrated above cars crumple easily for a good reason.

Hmm – I’m going to ask the question that everyone else wants to. Did you have your seatbelt on properly?

Red mark on neck, sore cheek bone I’d say he did.

Well the seat belt was on, over my shoulder, across my body and clipped in. Is there another way to wear it?

Necks real sore now. Hello ibuprofen.

Red mark on neck, sore cheek bone I’d say he did.

Good indications that the seatbelt wasn’t adjusted properly.

Good indications that the seatbelt wasn’t adjusted properly.

Is it bollocks.

Is it bollocks.

well, that would be another indication – unless it was a 6 point harness 😀

gwaelod – Member
” accelerations sensed are high enough”

I rather suspect they go off if accelerations are low enough, rather than high enough.

Think about it again.

Why would you need an airbag if the accelerations were low?

Acceleration can be going faster or going slower.

Air bags fire when the accident is server enough to warranty them. A sore neck, and the “radiator smashed” are NOT severe enough. If the airbags in a modern car fire, even if it’s just the drivers and passenger side font bags, they require replacement (and usually parts of the dash too) that would add around £1200 to the repair cost.

I bet you were twisted in your seat when you hit the car in front, so you slipped out sideays from the seat belt, hence your torso pivoted forwards and you face butted the handwheel!

These “i though he was going, then he stopped” kind of accidents are common, easily done, and one of the few areas (IMO) where the latest collision mitigation radar systems fitted to modern cars actually work pretty well!

A few years ago I was involved in an accident in a brand new Ford Fiesta, I believe it was a total loss. A lady in an Audi hit it up the arse hard enough to break the rear suspension and pushed me into the Volvo in front, which felt like hitting a wall, I also hit my head on something. The Audi was immobilised by the impact but no airbags deployed in any of the cars.
In fact I’ve been in a few accidents over the years and not seen an airbag go off.

Another was waiting in a queue at stanstead airport in a vw caddy. A lady hit the back of it hard enough to make the radio fall out of the dash, bend the shell to the point that the passenger door no longer fitted. Again no airbags went off in either vehicle.

BTW, assuming your car is less than about 8 years old, the Airbag modules “crash recorder” will have a record of the impact, and you can ask your garage to download that record, if you really think the airbags should have fired.

How is the poor bod you crashed into?

Anyway I’m fine, red mark in neck from seat belt, sore cheekbone from steering wheel. The other guy was fine. The rest is just metal, plastic and insurance.

Keep up, J.

🙂

Edit :

Quick research suggest 16-28mph or even higher, so not necessarily failing at 35kph. Drive a bit faster into something and see if it goes off. Good luck…

Also 🙂

I once had a Customer complain to me that His Airbag hadn’t gone off when he crashed, my first question to him was, are you ok? Yes he replied, so I responded with, they didn’t need to go off then did they. He walked off with his tail between his legs. Ultimately they are an intelligent system, that react to inputs from various sensors all around the car, and if the haven’t gone off, chances are they didn’t need to.

The City Safe tech on my Volvo saved me a bump the other day when I missed someone backing out a bit far into the road, the car just stopped dead without me doing a thing, very impressive tech IMO

Hey!

Is my post flippin’ invisible or something, Overshoot…?

a little bit off topic, but do the new pretend 4x4s have crumple zones or are they just 2 ton battering rams.

Went into a car kinda fast and the airbag went off. Felt like I had broken ribs for about 3 weeks and a smashed hand from where I was trying to use the engine to help with braking.

That’s my 217k miles rover spun around 180, the black corsa I’d shoved back across the road and the red fiesta it had shunted into. Corsa pulled out in front of me before the mob get their pitchforks.

Here’s some airbag test video from VW:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiSSCvnm3As[/video]

All that ^^^^ abuse is to ensure the airbags DON’T go off when you don’t want them too!!

Clipping a lump of granite sticking out of the verge on the apex of a corner at ~30mph was enough to make my a3 think there was a side impact and fire the passenger seat side airbag and fire the seatbelt pretensioner.

That VW video is cracking! Just had a propa laugh at the people carrier getting some decent air time!

teasel – Member

Hey!

Is my post flippin’ invisible or something, Overshoot…?

Calm down, I was in the proccess of replying to John just after he posted when work phoned and I was away from the keyboard for 1/4 hour.
I saw your reply and removed my comment. Is that OK?

Here’s some airbag test video from VW:

Lol, I bet they had a great time doing those tests 🙂

I’ve been involved in prepping cars for airbag tests, and stripping them down afterwards. You’d be amazed how much damage you can do and still not trigger the bags.

Had one that came back after doing one of those heavy braking on a “rough surface” tests that had ejected both of it’s headlights and flatted all four tyres/smashed more than one of the rims. 😆
Basically hauling all on from about 100-120 kph to a dead stop (full ABS type thing) on a long strip of Belgian style cobbles.

And that was the old “stupid” airbags as well. The modern ones are far better.

Might also be worth checking for recalls, there are 4 or 5 floating around at the moment for bags that either discharge early, or late, or not at all. Or spray bits of shrapnel into the occupants……..

My last 4*4 was t boned by a corsa and catapulted head on into a bus

Chassis was bent , both wishbones , wing , door all banjod + 2 flat tires and bent rims

Neither the air bag nor srs systems went off.

-all were present and functional but just didn’t get the impact required.

a little bit off topic, but do the new pretend 4x4s have crumple zones or are they just 2 ton battering rams.

XC90….

I saw your reply and removed my comment. Is that OK?

🙂

Hadn’t noticed TBH. I was too busy picking up all my toys and clambering back into my pram.

Hitting anything in your car sounds VERY loud, or alot louder than you’d think as the frame/box and steel amplifiers sound more.

For instance a 5mph reverse into a wall can make your cringe, you get out and say ‘oh not what I thought’ etc

teasel – Member
Hadn’t noticed TBH. I was too busy picking up all my toys and clambering back into my pram.

😀 Great reply well done 🙂

Edukator – Reformed Troll
How is the poor bod you crashed into?

He’s fine. He was more worried about the massive LPG tank in the boot if his car.

Picked up a hire car today. Insurance on the ball. Already with assessors / repairers. Should have an idea of its a repair or write off in a day. Mate at work with a Focus had a similar bump at a fraction of the speed and that cost $6k to fix. Car only cost 22k so will see what happens.

I was looking good right, up the road as it happened so kind of twisted in my seat. No aches today though all good.

They are **** loud. My ears were ringing for days.

Never had one fire myself, but once encountered a young lad who did. Rural road, coming up to a hump-backed bridge. I clocked him coming the other way, so stopped to let him past.

He hit the bridge like his head was on fire, fast enough to get airborne. Saw me, tried to swerve out of the way, overcooked it straight into the side wall (and then bounced off it into the side of me).

When he hit the wall the airbag deployed, and it was impossibly loud even outside the car with the windows closed, sounded like a bomb going off. Inside of his car was filled with smoke which I assume is some sort of talc-a-like from the airbag. Might well be a life saver but I’d thought it’d be like landing on a fluffy cushion or something; I don’t imagine it’s particularly laughs-a-plenty to be on the receiving end of one.