How big of a collision for airbag to deploy?
 

I was in a car accident this past Wednesday and to my surprise, the airbag did not deploy. The other vehicle made a left had turn in front of me as I cross an intersection. The point of impact was right above the fog light. I was probably going about 15-20 mph but being that it was almost a head on, why didn't the airbag deploy?

BTW,
These cars are expensive for repair. The shop had the initial quote at $7K.

The thing that sucks is that the other driver claimed that he had a left turn arrow. I got to suck it up with the dedutible until my insurance file a claim to his. Oh well.. I am seriously thinking of the 04 now. I'll take a big hit since mine is an 03 with only 16K miles but I am afraid the car is not going to be the same.

I had a 40 mph crash with the back of a stopped Chevy, no deployment. According to my Acura dealer i was VERY lucky it didn't deploy (as the only damage was my bumper, thanks to the guys trailer hook, $865 total for a new bumper).

Tracer

Airbags deploy when a deceleration force of enough magnitude and duration occurs that surpasses a preset threshold. As such, it's very hard to determine whether or not an airbag "should have" deployed. In your case, it seems as if they would have only served to increase the damage repair estimate.

I'm assuming that you're ok since you made no mention of injuries in your post -- so that's a good thing! :)

has anyone ever been hurt by airbag deployment on our cars or know if honda airbags are safe? i've seen stuff on tv about ppl getting burned or even getting knocked out by the force of the airbag being ejected. i wear glasses and i'm afraid it would smash up the lenses and i get stabbed in the face and eyes and go blind.

Wed Sept 3
Going to work in the morning
Got on the on ramp to the highway
As I got to the top of the on ramp (it's on an incline) some guy decided to make a right turn from his lane on the highway right into me on the on ramp.
I'd say that I was going 20-25 as my on ramp lead directly to the right lane i.e. there is no merge, the lane from the ramp becomes the right lane of the highway which has a posted limit of 55.
Both airbags deployed QUICKLY. I was stunned a great deal. Seeing that I usually aim my steering wheel "down" instead of up, I didn't experience any of the facial burns etc that others have told me about.
My left wrist is hurt due to the airbags bending my cuff link into my wrist.
The damage is estimated at $10K. Left Headlight, front bumper, driver side quarter panel and a host of other things will need fixing. Doubt it's total because it's an 02.
The cop gave the other driver a ticket for crossing the hazard lines into my lane.

exactly! its all based on deceleration. if the deceleration isnt enough for it to go off the crash wasnt severe enough . feel lucky that you dont have to replace parts of you dash, air bags, stering colum. i had a lady pull out in front of me while i was doing around 45-50 in my s10 and i hit the right rear quarter panel of her taurus and damn near bent her car in half but i barely felt the impact and my air baigs never went off.

vlam, sounds like you didnt hit him just right...

Airbags are designed to deply between 20 and 30 mph or higher.

HOWEVER, you have to nail BOTH of the airbag sensors! of cource, the only way to do that is with a perfectly stright, head on collision. from your description, id sounds like you only nailed one of the sensors.

not true. its the severity of the crash,like RAdams and i said before. its mostly based on deceleration.

Thanks for all the reply. I was a little concern because I have never experience airbag deployment so I trust that it does work. I mean it's not like VSA were you can go out and test to make sure that it works. In any case, I will have to shop look at the airbag sensor just in case.

<< I'm assuming that you're ok since you made no mention of injuries in your post -- so that's a good thing! >>

No injuries to either party. That is always a good thing.


Another thing. Does anyone know if the HID bulb will go bad if condensation gets into the headlight? One of the headlight is cracked but the light still works. Should I insist that a new bulb be used?

I've had an airbag in my face.... the rims of my glasses were imprinted in my face for a WEEK... bad pain... but better than being half dead from a crash :)

In this case someone went through a red with 65mph and hit the back of my car, causing me to make a series of 360's, then flipping over (left front wheel hit a curb) and landing on the right side of the nose of the car, causing the airbags to go off...

Obviously, both cars were completely totaled, and i mean completely. The other driver ended up in the hospital with a broken neck, a good deal of back damage, massive concussion and several broken bones. I had some bruises and cuts.. i was EXTREMELY lucky.

Other damage included a traffic light down, curb and pedestrian pavement ruined and a 2 foot chip out of the side of the building i ended up against ... I still thank any existing higher powers that there were no other cars in my path and most importantly, no pedestrians.

Oh, i should add that this was my boss' BMW 540.. good car safety wise.

Tracer

the air bag deployment system has various sensors to determine if, when, and which air bags it will depoly. The main sensor is call a "Accelerometer". It's a MEMS (Micro-ElectroMachanical) device, about 1 square cm. It's basically a open circuit device with a little arm on it, and when there is enough force the arm goes down and closes the circuit. THe device measures Force (F=ma). so like ftyyyms1 said, it's mostly based on Accleration/Decceleration.
The sensor works both ways. Say you are moving and you collide with a tree, you decelerate to 0 and your airbag will go off. But it also works when you car at a red light and a car rear ends you, so you accelerate from 0 to whatever.
If ur airbags don't go off, be happy...it's because u probably didn't need them. and YES AIRBAGS DO HURT!!!! They are made a thick, rough, nylon like material (comparable to thick backpack material). It will bruise you and scrape ur skin.

well put!

My wife was in a head-on Sep. 1st. Situation sounds a lot like Vlam's. She was going straight thru an intersection - actually slowing down to make a right turn after the intersection - and the guy heading towards her made a sudden left. He didn't claim that he had the left turn signal (which would've meant my wife ran a red light), but that she was speeding. The cop filling out the report didn't think so - neither did the insurance appraiser.
The front right corner of his car hit ours dead-on - both bags deployed ($2K worth of repair right there!). Estimated speed: 30-35 MPH. Wife was scratched up from the bag, but nothing more. My daughter was in the front passenger seat, but no injuries (Thank God!).
Bumper's gone, hood's gone, grill & both taillights, plus some radiator/AC damage. Total Bill: $7,300.00 plus change (so far). Also gotta suck up the deductable 'til my insurance goes after his.

My wife was in a head-on Sep. 1st. Situation sounds a lot like Vlam's. She was going straight thru an intersection - actually slowing down to make a right turn after the intersection - and the guy heading towards her made a sudden left. He didn't claim that he had the left turn signal (which would've meant my wife ran a red light), but that she was speeding. The cop filling out the report didn't think so - neither did the insurance appraiser.
The front right corner of his car hit ours dead-on - both bags deployed ($2K worth of repair right there!). Estimated speed: 30-35 MPH. Wife was scratched up from the bag, but nothing more. My daughter was in the front passenger seat, but no injuries (Thank God!).
Bumper's gone, hood's gone, grill & both taillights, plus some radiator/AC damage. Total Bill: $7,300.00 plus change (so far). Also gotta suck up the deductable 'til my insurance goes after his.

Forgot to mention: 2000 TL

AcuraTLFan is dead on:
Without sufficient affect to the sensor, they will not deploy. I've seen them deploy in parking lot collisions, and not deploy in major collisions. In all my years, I've seen two cases of a malfunction: one was on a Hyundai and another was the fault of a body shop who repaired a car from a previous collision w/ the airbag deployment, but incorrectly installed the sensors for the new system...
As far as injuries are concerned, it is quite common to see burns to the forearms and chin, some abrasions, etc. That being said, I've seen no injuries and a few fatalities, though in every fatality, the driver was VERY close to the wheel in a VERY upright position.

Interesting ... I was wondering what speed the driver might have been doing when I was in an accident yesterday .. Half of my trunk is pushed in lights' mufflers on gwound rear panels off bumper bent in half .. yes there are pictures ,but I don't have a scanner and it was not a digital camera .. but I will tell you I was hit extremely hard from the rear and no bags deployed ,nor did they when I hit the car in front of me.. ?

Cannot even guestimate without seeing pics...
The pictures tell everything, but even with them, the vehicle's dynamics indicate impact damage. Certain cars are designed to "crumple" for safety reason and look horrendous with frontal collisions (like Volvo) even though the speed may be less than 30mph. Others may not look too bad from a collision but the design may lead to crushing other cars (like SUV's often do)...

A lot of this is all anecdotal without having actual stuff to look at...

crashes often look worse due to the damage now days but thats usually a good thin. cars are supposed to crumple , thats how they absorb the energy of the collision to keep the occupants safer. most people look at them and say i wouldnt want to be in that car, but those are the cars that the occupants usually faired the best.

So recently, I couldn't stop in time for a stopped car and rear ended another car. I'd say I was going about 15-20 mph, and slammed on the breaks. The airbag deployed but it never hit me in the face. I never really went that far forward. The mechanic was surprised that it deployed at all. It's costing me $3k to get a new airback and seatbelt. And the belt tightened up as designed. No interior damage at all. No structural damage. And I wasn't going that fast either.

Anyone hear of any issues of unnecessary or premature airbag deployment on Acura's? Did I just hit the sensors in the right place and it went off? This would have been a minor cost to repair if it wasn't for the airbag and belt.

This is the minor damage on my Acura 2010 TL. The mechanic said there was only cosmetic damage, nothing serious to cause the air bag to deploy.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...ffe53f2d42.jpg

This is the other guy's car. Minimal damage. The plastic bumper came off slightly. Not a big deal. No other damage.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...13ef389bc5.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...3cbc4f377e.jpg

Where is that 3k coming from? A dealership? Independent?

You can get a new steering wheel air bag and new seat belt for around a grand.

Both are easily installed by yourself.

My neighbor has an auto body shop, and I trust him. He has a guy come in to do the air bags, and that's how much it costs for the airbag and belt assembly replacement.

I'd rather have a professional install the airbag, it's a life or death safety issue and I don't want to install it incorrectly. I've never heard of anyone installing it themselves. My neighbor/repair guy did not recommend it. He didn't even want to do it, he called a professional.

Installing an air bag is no different than installing any other connecting device in the car.

The only thing you want to do beforehand is pull the negative battery cable and wait a good 30 minutes so there is no residual voltage in the system.

If you want to pay a huge markup for price that is fine, I was just letting you know if you want to save money on something that is simple enough for anyone to accomplish.

Its actually kind of easy to install airbags. You could probably do everything yourself including the seat belt restraint system. 3K is completely overboard to do it all but hey! if you got the pesos? go for it. :thumbsup:

I was going through papers on my car and noticed that Acura has a lifetime seatbelt warranty - would that be covered in a crash?

^ Nope! its only for malfunctioning restrain system.

How big of a collision for airbag to deploy? Big enough to activate 2 or more air bag sensors.

A basic air bag SRS system has 3 sensors, 2 at the front of the car and 1 in the center below the dash. For any air bag or bags to deploy a minimum of 2 or more sensors must activate.

If you're going to work on the air bag system, here are some basic precautions to take when working in and around the SRS.

When installing air bags you need to cut all power from the vehicle by disconnecting the negative battery cable at the battery terminal.If you have an aux power source for your stereo system you need to cut the power from that too. Allow a minimum of half hour for the power to dissipate.

When handling the air bag, hold the air bag by the base from the sides or back. Always position the deployment side of the air bag away from your body and facing outwards with the base between you and the air bag. That way if the air bag accidentally deploys by static electricity the air bag can't give you a sucker punch. No joke, it can break your neck. People have died because of this.

The air bag wire loom is color coded in a bright yellow for easy identification. Do not alter them in any way shape or form. If they're damaged in anyway, replace them with OEM only. Do not splice... period.

Prior to working on the air bag system always ground yourself to the car by wearing a grounding strap to prevent static electricity. A slight arc at the wrong time in the right place could deploy the air bag. You should be able to find one at any quality automotive store.

Last but not lease, if you're going to work on the SRS, you will need a set of Tamper Proof Torx bits. All components of the SRS are held in place by Tamper Proof fasteners.


I hope this is helpful and informative.

If I had an accident today and hit a tree the only thing damaged is my cv axle on the passenger side my air bag deployed in it started smoking what do I do it still crank and drive but I'm just curious about the airbag in the front part of my fan

Welcome to AZine.

Gave up trying to read your run on sentence about half way through.

In this instance the car will drive once the suspension is fix. The Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) was deployed so repairs are required. Minimum of two sensors.

The air bag in the front part of the fan that you mentioned above must be the air bag sensors because there is no air bag under the hood, only two sensors- one on the left side and one on the right side of each frame rail.

The front sensors consist of a gold plated steel ball suspended in a gel like substance and held in place by a magnet in a cube or rectangular steel modul. The sensor is activated when the car stops fast enough for inersha to move the gold ball forward and making contact with the trigger mechanism thus completing the circuit. Regardless if the sensor itself was hit or not.

The smoke that you saw from the air bag is nontoxic. It's probably cornstarch or talcum power use by manufacturers to lubricate the air bag and to keep the air bag pliable to prevent binding during deployment.

To fix your SRS you will need to replace the air bag(s), 1 or both front sensor(s), and/or the cabin control unit (this also has an inersha sensor).

Possibly the seat belts also.

To know which sensors are defective you will need a SRS scanner to scan the SRS and to reset the SRS lamp.