[landcruiser123]

It's a good thing that you're safe. Hope your neck recovers quickly.

I've heard that in most cars that the airbag sensors are in line with the front shock absorber. Looking at the damage to the lights and your bonnet (they aren't damaged too much), I'm not surprised that airbags didn't deploy.

Your crumple zone is intact and that's a good thing. This kind of accident happened to when my mom when she drove the Innova a few years ago, the airbags didn't deploy. She was absolutely safe.

Also the toyota's safety book mentions that the airbags will not deploy on crash with a vehicle, it will only deploy on a crash with a stationary object.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by joey645

(speed of impact? I don't know.. 50-60kmph?)
Now, the airbags didn't deploy.

What on earth does that mean? Is every car a lottery card when it comes to airbag deployment?

A lot of folks are suggesting I should take them to consumer court...

Hi joey645, my guess, without actually looking closer at your car, is that you had a slow-speed shunt. As many have said before on this thread, your speed of impact was quite low. In addition, you may have certain misconceptions about how airbags activate, when you say...

Originally Posted by joey645

...maybe the impact was not enough for the inertia to reach the steering wheel?

A quick look at your car, with the zone of impact marked, shows that you hit a pair of vertical steel bars or something similar, which left the two dents on the bonnet as well as crumpled it a bit. This can hardly qualify as a full frontal impact at 50-60 kmph. Your headlights are not broken/majorly displaced, the actual steel bumper below the plastic bumper cover is visible and not bent, and the radiator was pushed back because it is fixed to the steel member on which the bonnet catch is located. The plastic bumper cover was probably ripped forward and dislocated when the two vehicles were separated from each other after the crash.

My opinion: you're probably over-reacting about the non-deployment of airbags. Your speed at impact would probably have been more like 5-10 kmph. An accident investigator would be able to assess the speed more accurately on physical inspection of the car. Approaching a consumer court is your choice though, but VW might just keep back your car till the case is settled, whichever way the decision goes.

As to the 2-lakh-rupee bill, well, if everything that's even got a little ding or scratch on it is being replaced, that's invariable. VW spares are never cheap anyway, and they know you're covered by insurance for most of the cost.

[Kumar R]

The narration of the incident brought to my mind an incident in Bombay seven years ago when I was accompanying a friend in his morning drive to office in his brand new (10-12 day old Swift) and equally new driving license. On the Western Express Highway, near the bend along the edge of the runway a small tempo (like in your case) abruptly stopped / braked and my friend could not brake in time and a small collision ensued. The speed of the Swift was not more than 35-40 kmph before he started braking. This is the end-result, it looks similar to yours, the damage being mostly by the horizontal beam at the end of the tempo.

[apachelongbow]

Looks like your impact speed was well below 40 kmph. From 80kmph when you spotted the tempo, you mentioned you braked and then collided with it. In that 3-4 seconds your speed may have washed off from 80kmph to may be 30kmph or so, in between you may have seen the speedo (when it was decelerating past 60), or your brain may not be able to comprehend the rapid speed loss, and hence you felt you crashed at 60kmph.

Either case, its good the you are fine and the car has also got a relatively minor impact. As mentioned by others, airbags will not deploy when the speed is slow, or the impact felt is less

[Hammer & Anvil]

The crash member behind the plastic bumper is intact. The ABS sensors are behind that. The ABS did not deploy.
Finish.

[Umesh Kumar61]

I have a doubt.

Can we assume that the car was doing less than 50-60 at the time of collision just by taking the extent of damage to the car into consideration? The total kinetic energy possessed by the car was dissipated or transferred during the collision. We don't know how much the other vehicle has taken. If, say, the other vehicle had a not so hard yet no so tough bar at the rear or if it was not in gear or free to move, then the damage would be less even if the car was doing 50-60. I know this has got nothing to do with the non-deployment of airbags but with the extent of damage.

[ambivalent_98]

Scary photo of your car buddy. Just happy to hear that you and your family were not hurt and I think it might be due to your application of the brakes on time.
Anyway having said that I agree with some of the other posts that the airbags deployment has not happened due to the speed and that you were able to mostly control the car so much so that you escaped unhurt. The structural member of the car looks OK so as someone said earlier the "crumple" zone has not been damaged. Well the imortant thing is that you and your family is safe. Be careful and please drive safe.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by joey645

So, I had an accident about two weeks ago.

Any thoughts/advise folks?

Hey joey645 I am really sorry to learn about the mishap and like everybody else on this forum, very glad to understand the damages that resulted are completely replaceable/recoverable.

As soon as I read your post, I looked through Wiki to better understand how these airbags are actually designed, what triggers them and so on.

My intention is not to take your time or argue with the incident, but just to share some useful knowledge base:

Link

Excerpt from the article which may possibly explain your situation:

Unlike crash tests into barriers, real-world crashes typically occur at angles other than directly into the front of the vehicle, and the crash forces usually are not evenly distributed across the front of the vehicle. Consequently, the relative speed between a striking and struck vehicle required to deploy the airbag in a real-world crash can be much higher than an equivalent barrier crash. Because airbag sensors measure deceleration, vehicle speed is not a good indicator of whether an airbag should have deployed. Airbags can deploy due to the vehicle's undercarriage striking a low object protruding above the roadway due to the resulting deceleration.

[joey645]

Thanks for your concern and explanations everyone!

So VW finally replied. Make of it what you will, the grammar and lack of cohesion in their statement only worsened my doubts. Then I saw all the perfectly rational explanations here on TBHP and I cant help but think VW should get some of our posters on their payroll as email advisors

"As we have taken up the issue and discussed with our technical head, they are thoroughly checked your car, As we seen the car there is head on collision but it will to deploy Airbags to protect the driver and passenger. Even if it deploy it will not help your situation. The damages happened only upper portion of bumper and the impact occurred during the accident is inadequate to deploy the Air bags. The impact is not to the chassis frame or cross member hence control unit even although our speed estimation is 40-45kmph at impacting timeso understands it is not a fatal impact so not to deploy Air bags.

We hope you are understand the reason for your concern.

We assure you that all the jobs will be attended as per the procedures & guidelines of Volkswagen."

All I can say to that email is: Good Grief!

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by joey645

understands it is not a fatal impact so not to deploy Air bags.

Not a fatal impact so no need to deploy airbags!!! What were they smoking when writing this email? Wow

[Adit]

Regretting purchase of Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (Auto)

I write this letter with a great sense of regret and disappointment over my decision to purchase of a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (4x2 – Automatic). The said car was purchased from Shakti Motors Automotive Pvt. Ltd (Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) on 27th June, 2015 (Saturday). The decision to purchase the car was done after careful consideration of the long list of advertised safety features and the much acclaimed brand value of Mitsubishi Pajero both locally and internationally. It was supposedly the safest option in SUV segment in Indian environment. Our trust and confidence was badly shaken by an event just 49 days into the purchase of the vehicle and caused a great deal of mental and physical agony.

To elaborate the incident, on the 15th of August, we were travelling on National Highway 8 (NH8) towards Udaipur (Rajasthan, India) from Mumbai (Maharashtra, India). NH8 is in an excellent and impeccable condition. We were in Khari Village near Himatnagar in the State of Gujarat (well known for its infrastructure) when I had to carefully apply brakes in order to avoid a certain collision with a stray dog.

The stray dog suddenly jumped, out of bushes, right in front of our car. To my shock, when the brakes were applied the vehicle started slightly sliding towards left from the rear wheel. Due to this slide, it was virtually impossible to control the car. There was a complete failure of the ABS (Anti-lock braking system), due to which the vehicle skid almost 180 degrees in the middle of the highway and hit the divider. Upon hitting the divider it toppled sideways and continued skidding further and crashed into the bushes eventually crossing the divider and resting on the other side of NH8.

The impact completely damaged right side of the vehicle and shattered the front wind shield. The front right A-pillar came crashing towards me during the accident. The extent of the impact was so huge that the car is completely damaged and unusable. What is even more appalling is that the airbags failed to deploy despite the enormity of the impact.

There were only 3 passengers travelling in the vehicle with luggage placed in the third reclined row. Also, note that both the front row passengers (me and my wife) had our seat belts on.

The pictures of the accident have been attached for your reference and perusal. In an event like this we expected the advertised safety features of the car to come to our rescue. However none of the following advertised features worked:
1. ABS (Anti-lock braking system) with EBD (Electronic Brake-force Distribution);
2. Hydraulic brake booster; and
3. SRS Airbags (Driver + Passenger)

The failure of these safety features is monumental and disastrous. We feel that Mitsubishi failed to deliver on the safety features which were promised at the time of purchase and the product delivered to us was deficient / inferior quality which seriously jeopardized our safety.

The accident has shaken my family and everyone is currently under a lot of mental and physical stress, trying to recover from the enormity of the accident.

Kindly consider this before buying an Automatic version.

Regards,
Adit Dawda

[tez]

adit, sorry to learn abt the accident and by gods grace, you and your family escaped without much injury/harm.
Regarding Airbags not being deployed, IMHO they deploy only in case of front head on collision and not toppling side ways. For this you need to have curtain airbags on sides.

Not sure about why ABS did not work. Hope you get a positive reply from Mitsubishi

[Adit]

Hi,

I must have missed to mention that, I had a head on collision with the DIVIDER as the car skid and that is the time when I expected the Airbags to deploy.

Thanks.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by Adit

The stray dog suddenly jumped, out of bushes, right in front of our car. To my shock, when the brakes were applied the vehicle started slightly sliding towards left from the rear wheel.

Hey Adit, sad to hear about the accident. Glad that all passengers are safe.

What speed were you doing, Adit, before the accident. Was the road damp?
Did you try to steer the vehicle while applying the brake?

[deepfusion]

Sorry to hear about the accident.

But might be, at the time when you applied brakes, you would have been on gravel, and due to the ABS activating, the vehicle would have skidded. Just a thought.