yungwunn911

Hi Guys,

Got into a accident few days back, guy ran the stop sign on my block doing excessive speeding. It was a pretty hard hit, luckily I got ok. Need to get a check up of my should/arm next week tho

I was actually pretty surprised that my side airbags, or curtains did not deploy. I've seen cases where people just run over a curb and airbags deploy in other cars, and I'm concerned with the safety system acura has employed in the TSX (2005 in my case)

Here are some pics from the collision, dead on driver's door.





I went to a few Acura dealers, and asked them how the side airbags work, and they claim that any moderate impact will deploy the airbag. That even a sideswipe could potentially deploy them also. I had a Nissan Pathfinder ram me at about 40 mpg dead on.

thevikas87

iTrader: (2)

that is very suspicious...the airbags definitely should have deployed without a doubt

LukeaTron

^^^ It's impossible to make a statement like without knowing what kind of accelerations were being applied to the car. The airbags are triggered by accelerometers. The airbags are to protect your body from slamming into the side of the car (in the case of the side airbags) should the body of the car rapidly move in the opposite direction. They won't do anything for you in the case that something protrudes into the car.

I'm guessing that your car either stayed fairly planted or the main force vector was not in a direction that the airbags cover. For instance, if your car mainly moved forward after the impact, there would not be a high G load in a lateral direction as the energy would be transfered to movement in "safe" direction.

If you really want to know, I believe that modern cars log all the sensor data for a second or two before and after any large impact. I'm not sure how but there are ways to retrieve those logs.

On the plus side, the damage seems to be pretty well isolated to the door and front left corner panel. Should be a relative easy fix. Not to mention you seem to be mostly unscathed.

dmassott

i read somewhere on here before that the airbags won't deploy unless your car is going a certain speed. A guy got hit from behind when he was at a dead stop and they didnt deploy when he got hit from a car going like 40 mph. Could be wrong but thats what i've read.

GTSX-05

iTrader: (1)

Ouchhh, its good to hear your okay, pretty scary situation. I always thought the side airbags would deploy from an side impact?

For example;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3IOPe2kHwQ

The cars at a stand still, and the side airbags still deployed.

LukeaTron

Airbags will never deploy if the car is hit directly from the rear and moves directly forward. The force on your body is going to push you into your seat. Since that's pretty well padded already and your body is presumably already pressed against it, you aren't likely to experience a significant injury due to impact with the seat. There's nothing airbags could do to help you in that situation.

It's all down to which direction and how hard the car's body is being accelerated.

thevikas87

iTrader: (2)

alright...and the curtain airbags wouldnt come out to stop the shards of glass coming at his face?

LukeaTron

No. That's not at all what they're designed for. They'd be just as likely to grind them into his face.

timmahh

That video is an angled side impact, there is movement in multiple directions, and the impact affected multiple sensors

When you rear end someone your airbags go off to prevent you from smacking your head into the steering wheel / dash / windshield; when you get rear ended your car will [to put it simply] jolt forward - pushing you into the padded seat.

Maybe if the other side of your car was hit the airbag on your side would have gone off ?

You might be able to get your dealer to read the box..

GTSX-05

iTrader: (1)

hmm...makes sense

dereksmalls

You sure it was 40mph? The IIHS side impact tests are run at 31mph and they do quite a bit of damage.
http://www.crashtest.com/explanations/iihs/iihs.htm

Also, you can see the video of the TSX crash test at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...htestvideo.htm

tsx4lyfe

O Man That Sucks But At Least Ur Ok I Would U Pissed At That Asshole So Close To Ur House Too? Right Y Did It Make A Hole In Ur Door?

INSPIRE 32V

iTrader: (1)

side airbag will deploy if the side center beem is hit other wise no but them again i have bought cars which were hit driver/passenger side front and every freaking bag blew in the car so i can't say for sure. maybe your were going under 30mph cus than no airbags will deploy

GTSX-05

iTrader: (1)

Ya I Would Be Mad Too If That Happend To Me So Close To My House....lol

Simba91102

Vector shmector; you got a guy coming straight at your door man, I'd won't those friggin bags to blow.

cestmoi

My first reaction was "I don't care what anyone says, based on the picture shown by the original poster, those side airbags should've deployed! An investigation should be initiated."

HOWEVER, after looking at the picture more closely, doesn't appear that the impact was that hard. Hard to tell without seeing any internal damages to say further.

LukeaTron

LEARN TO TYPE/SPEAK! Damn illiterate kids.

L1StarTSX

I investigate accidents and damage as part of my job, that being said, you cannot expect airbags to deploy just because certain parts of the veh is impacted. Side curtain bag sensors are mounted on various control points on the unibody of the TSX, speed and lateral movement are all parts of consideration during the impact. Sidebags are not designed to protect from glass, since auto glass in tempered and doesnt brake in the same way normal glass does.

Also, that looks like less than 15mph impact. You can tell by the minor damage along the fender reinforcement line and damage to the door panel.

Important thing is you are ok, and the car can be repaired.