airbags deployed - can they be replaced?

[windycitymom]

Our son rear-ended someone (luckily no one was hurt), and both airbags in his car went off. How expensive is it to replace? The windshield also cracked and that will have to be replaced. We didn't have collision insurance on the car since the car was 9 years old. Aside from that, the hood is only slightly dented. We think we can save the car - it was going to be passed down to our younger son since the brakes, tires, and everything else was pretty new. Any advice? Has anyone had to replace their airbags? What should I expect to pay? Thanks!

 

[DiznyDi]

Our son also was in an accident that caused both airbags to be deployed. We were told that each air bag cost $1200.00. Once they added body damage, the insurance co. found it cheaper to total out the car. The car was a Ford Taurus.
So sorry.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

Our son rear-ended someone (luckily no one was hurt), and both airbags in his car went off. How expensive is it to replace? The windshield also cracked and that will have to be replaced. We didn't have collision insurance on the car since the car was 9 years old. Aside from that, the hood is only slightly dented. We think we can save the car - it was going to be passed down to our younger son since the brakes, tires, and everything else was pretty new. Any advice? Has anyone had to replace their airbags? What should I expect to pay? Thanks!

Airbags can be replaced, and in fact, must be. Contact your dealer or auto repair service station.

 

[wdwstar]

Sorry to hear about your sons accident. You can contact the car dealer for a price and installation. You are better going with brand new ones because you will have a recourse if something goes wrong. If you go with used ones from a junk yard, you will not know if they will work properly. It sounds like a lot of money to pay, but well worth saving a life. maybe you can trade it in under the cash for clunkers on a new car. The Senate just approved 2billion more dollars towards the cash for clunker. I believe all you have to do is drive it into the dealers.

 

[mcorbo]

My daughter reaer ended someone, her can was 10 years old, little damage, but the air bag deployed. Got a new one off ebay for $10 and installed it myself

 

[CajunDixie]

Airbags can be replaced, and in fact, must be. Contact your dealer or auto repair service station.

The car may not be worth it.

My daughter reaer ended someone, her can was 10 years old, little damage, but the air bag deployed. Got a new one off ebay for $10 and installed it myself

This is so sad that your daughters life is only worth $10 to you.

 

[disneynuts777]

My Mom just had an accident in her 2006 Sienna last week and her air bags deployed. Thankfully nobody was hurt!!
The insurance company wrote the van off. Would not even discuss fixing it.
She was told it was so expensive to replace the airbags it was less expensive to write the van off.

 

[stitchlovestink]

My daughter reaer ended someone, her can was 10 years old, little damage, but the air bag deployed. Got a new one off ebay for $10 and installed it myself

This is so sad that your daughters life is only worth $10 to you.

Oh, I guess you have a crystal ball and know something that the rest of us don't. DO YOU know that this person is not qualified/trained/certified to do this? Not by his post you don't. That's a pretty nasty/judgemental statement to make when you know nothing personally about whether or not he is qualified to perform that job.

My Mom just had an accident in her 2006 Sienna last week and her air bags deployed. Thankfully nobody was hurt!!
The insurance company wrote the van off. Would not even discuss fixing it.
She was told it was so expensive to replace the airbags it was less expensive to write the van off.

WOW!! That's kinda scary to think that they totalled a vehicle that is only 3 y.o. due to predominantly air bag deployment. Was there a lot of other damage too? I would hope they were totaling it for multiple reasons. but mostly, I am glad your mom was okay.

 

[NYCDiane]

Our son rear-ended someone (luckily no one was hurt), and both airbags in his car went off. How expensive is it to replace? The windshield also cracked and that will have to be replaced. We didn't have collision insurance on the car since the car was 9 years old. Aside from that, the hood is only slightly dented. We think we can save the car - it was going to be passed down to our younger son since the brakes, tires, and everything else was pretty new. Any advice? Has anyone had to replace their airbags? What should I expect to pay? Thanks!

PLEASE take it to a reputable place to have the airbags replaced and WATCH while they replace them. There have been many, many stories of auto repair shops and even car dealers replacing deployed airbags either with the same bag (just stuffing it back in) or ---- and this is unbelievable --- stuffing newspaper in the airbag compartment. They've done stories on this on Dateline-type shows. VERY scary!

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Oh, I guess you have a crystal ball and know something that the rest of us don't. DO YOU know that this person is not qualified/trained/certified to do this? Not by his post you don't. That's a pretty nasty/judgemental statement to make when you know nothing personally about whether or not he is qualified to perform that job.

Amen to that.

It's amazing that some think that money and safety are directly proportional. I guarantee my $20 brake job that I perform myself is as good or better than that $120 brake job down the street.

Used airbags can be bought from wrecked vehicles in which the impact was from the side or rear. In this case, the airbags would never have been deployed. Contact a local salvage yard. They will be WAY cheaper than $1200.

However, if you don't know what you are doing, have a qualified person replace them. Although it's a simple process, the force behind them would definitely injure you if there is still an activated sensor.

 

[Leajess99]

As someone in an accident when the airbas should have deployed and did not, I would highly recommend taking it to a dealership or reputable body shop. We only found out the vehicle we had at the time had been in a previous accident AFTER our accident and the airbags did not deploy. No serious injuries other than neck, back and seatbelt bruising but so could have been worse. The car was not put back together correctly to include the airbags. Insurance company did not even want to deal with it as another driver was at fault but had the same insurance companay as we did.

I am glad there were no serious injuries.

 

[HelenePA]

Dh hit a guardrail while it was sleeting out (I told him not to go to work but did he listen? Nooo he was fine) the air bags went off. The car was only a few months old there wasn't much damage to the outside of the car but the whole dash in it had to be replaced to replace the airbags... 7k$ was the final cost.. thank god our deductible was 250$ We do our own brakes, our own rotors but no way was I going to mess with air bags and all that jazz!

 

[jennifer293]

PLEASE take it to a reputable place to have the airbags replaced and WATCH while they replace them. There have been many, many stories of auto repair shops and even car dealers replacing deployed airbags either with the same bag (just stuffing it back in) or ---- and this is unbelievable --- stuffing newspaper in the airbag compartment. They've done stories on this on Dateline-type shows. VERY scary!

I have seen that on tv as well...I agree..GO WATCH them do it!!

 

[carj]

Airbags are so expensive! Before we got married, someone broke into my husband's car and stole the airbags. That was all they took. The insurance company would only let us have it repaired at a dealer repair shop because they had to be installed by someone who was qualified.

I believe that the airbags were about 1000 each and the repair shop said that theives would sell them for about $50 each. There was about $4000 damage total to his car for some crook to make $100! The ripped up the dash, messed up a door and tore a seat.

Edited to add: I am not saying that some of you guys are not qualified, but I am most definitely not.

 

[disneynuts777]

WOW!! That's kinda scary to think that they totalled a vehicle that is only 3 y.o. due to predominantly air bag deployment. Was there a lot of other damage too? I would hope they were totaling it for multiple reasons. but mostly, I am glad your mom was okay.

There was front end damage as well but nearly half of the $18000 quoted to repair the van was just for air bag(s) replacement.
The sad thing is that the van was Brand new 3 years ago and was my Mom's first ever new vehicle. She paid in cash....$52000.00(money leftover from my Dad's funeral)and the insurance company gave her a cheque for $27000. She is devastated as this was her first ever accicent and has never had to file a claim.
we have lent her one of ur cars as DH is working at home this month and we can do just fine with one. Hopefully she will take her time to find a replacement but she is heart broken with the fact that it is going to have to be used. However we are all counting our blessing that she was okay.

 

[BrettS]

There was front end damage as well but nearly half of the $18000 quoted to repair the van was just for air bag(s) replacement.
The sad thing is that the van was Brand new 3 years ago and was my Mom's first ever new vehicle. She paid in cash....$52000.00(money leftover from my Dad's funeral)and the insurance company gave her a cheque for $27000. She is devastated as this was her first ever accicent and has never had to file a claim.
we have lent her one of ur cars as DH is working at home this month and we can do just fine with one. Hopefully she will take her time to find a replacement but she is heart broken with the fact that it is going to have to be used. However we are all counting our blessing that she was okay.

I wonder why they totaled it if the quote was $18,000, but they paid your mom $27,000... I always thought they would only total a vehicle if the repair cost was over (or at least close to) the value of the vehicle and in this case it looks like it was well under.

In any case, $27,000 for a three year old vehicle that was originally $52,000 sounds a bit low to me. If this just happened recently it might be worth calling a lawyer to see if he thinks your mom could get a bit more out of the insurance company. I've heard that you typically shouldn't take their first offer. But if it's been a little while and/or the paperwork has already been signed then it might be too late. That's why I'm thinking a lawyer could tell her if there is anything she could do at this point.

 

[carj]

I think that the damage has to be a certain percentage of the value of the car. I think that the insurance companies also have margin of error. They know that once the vehicle is taken apart, there may be more damage than seen initially. I think that they also look at "out of service" time. During our airbag mess, the car was at the dealer's shop for 6 WEEKS!!! Insane!

My husband, at the time he was my fiance, didn't have rental car coverage! If he had, I think that they might have totalled the car or figured out something else. It was a huge pain! Needless to say, after that experience, we have rental car in our collision policies.

We have one car totalled, not the one with the airbag issue. I really wouldn't have thought that it would be totalled. It was a smaller car and had bumper damage and the frame was bent. The cost of repairs was about half of what they gave me. I can't remember the exact numbers. I think that the cost of repairs was about 6K on a 12K car.