Airbag Question

[Feralpeg]

This afternoon, my daughter's best friend rear-ended another car. She drives a small sedan. She hit a large SUV. The SUV was not damaged other than the hitch on the back. My daughter's friends car was badly damaged. The entire frontend was pushed back. Both front side panels are buckled. The front of her car was actually hooked on the trailer hitch of the SUV. A tow truck had to pull them loose. The radiator of her car looks to be destroyed completely. Looking under the buckled hood, I could see that the battery had been pushed crooked and back into the engine area. Oil was splattered everywhere.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. The odd thing is that the airbad did not deploy. I'd have thought for sure that an impact that hard would cause a deployment. How hard does one have to hit to make it pop? Could it be because the bumper was pushed down and under the SUV?

Her car is five years old. I didn't want to tell her. She was already upset. I think they will probably total the car. Poor kid. She lives in Palm Bay and just came over for a job interview at a restaurant. She graduated from college last spring, but has not been able to find a teaching position. She is desperate for money and now this. She got a ticket for $167 dollars and will have points added to her insurance. The crazy part was that I passed two other accidents within a half mile of her location on the same road while on my way there. Not a good day to be on the road here!

 

[HelenePA]

how fast was she going? I believe they do not get set off unless your going at least 35mph. When I was in my accident they did not go off because it was a side impact not rear end or forward crash..

 

[Feralpeg]

how fast was she going? I believe they do not get set off unless your going at least 35mph. When I was in my accident they did not go off because it was a side impact not rear end or forward crash..

I'm not sure how fast she was going. The speed limit there is 45 mph, but she could have been going less. It was very busy at the time.

 

[bluesaturn]

I rear ended a truck last year. Like a delivery truck, the kind with a steel bumper. My airbags deployed but ironically my front bumper wasn't even damaged. There was essentially no body damage to my car, only my license plate was dented and my radiator was leaking a little. We think the airbags deployed because of how hard the truck's bumper was, there was absolutely no give. However they did total my car because the airbags are so expensive to replace.
I ended up buying the car back from the insurance company and getting it fixed. The amount they were going to give me for the car covered replacing the airbags and getting the small amount of other work done. My car was 5 years old and no where near as damaged as you describe. But since the airbags didn't deploy maybe she has a shot at not being totaled?

 

[HelenePA]

http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/airbags/airbags03/page3.html I found this.. dont know if it will help or not.

and yes air bags are VERY expensive to replace.. dh got into an accident nothing serious and I think they were the most expensive part of the whole thing.. it was a brand new car so it was not totalled out.

 

[pixiewings71]

I rear ended someone a few years back, no real damage to her bumper at all, the front end of my van was crushed tho. The airbags did not deploy, I was going about 10 mph when I hit her.

 

[laurie31]

Something else to consider - any seat belts that were in use during the accident should be replaced.

Most people do not know a vehicle’s manual requires the replacement of all seatbelts worn during a collision. Unless a consumer actually reads the car manual cover to cover, they miss the section that states: “If a seat belt is worn during a crash, it must be replaced by the dealer. A belt that has been worn during a crash may not provide the same level of protection in a subsequent crash.”

http://hrj-law.com/blog/personal-injury/replace-seatbelts-accident/

Seatbelts, like car seats and airbags, are considered by NHTSA to be single-use items and should be replaced after a crash.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=41226

This is something a lot of people don't know, and insurances aren't likely to volunteer to replace them, but it is necessary.

I'm so sorry this happened to your DD's friend. I hope she can find work soon.

 

[minkydog]

Something else to consider - any seat belts that were in use during the accident should be replaced.



http://hrj-law.com/blog/personal-injury/replace-seatbelts-accident/



http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=41226

This is something a lot of people don't know, and insurances aren't likely to volunteer to replace them, but it is necessary.

I'm so sorry this happened to your DD's friend. I hope she can find work soon.

Thanks for that information. I didn't know that. I knew that you should always replace a baby's car seat after a wreck,but I never thought about the seatbelts. But I can certainly see why.

 

[tvguy]

how fast was she going? I believe they do not get set off unless your going at least 35mph. When I was in my accident they did not go off because it was a side impact not rear end or forward crash..

Actually 8 to 14 miles per hour is the range of impact that triggers airbags.

My daughter rear ended a car, caught the left rear corner with the right rear corner of her car. Didn't hit any solid portions of her car, crumbled the hood and fender, which absorbed a lot of energy, so a very soft impact that did not deploy the air bag. Totaled the car ( primarily because it was 18 years old and had 140,000 miles on it).

 

[HelenePA]

Actually 8 to 14 miles per hour is the range of impact that triggers airbags.

My daughter rear ended a car, caught the left rear corner with the right rear corner of her car. Didn't hit any solid portions of her car, crumbled the hood and fender, which absorbed a lot of energy, so a very soft impact that did not deploy the air bag. Totaled the car ( primarily because it was 18 years old and had 140,000 miles on it).

I guess I was wrong. I know when they were cutting me out of my car they were scared they were going to go off when they were using the jaws of life to cut the roof off... needless to say my car was more than totaled.

 

[dicar123]

I was in a side impact crash that deployed my airbags. Well, it was the side of the front (right at the front tire) if that makes any difference.

Thanks to whomever posted about replacing seatbelts (too lazy to go back and look)! My van was not totalled and no one mentioned anything about the seatbelts. Luckily, I had another crash a year after the first which DID total the van or else I'd be worrying about my seatbelts just now.