[audioholic]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

That was my first thought.

I'm curious, would the airbag mechanism rely on the speed reading from the airbag sensors or the car electronics?

Again, as told, the sensor provides deceleration values to the controller and not velocity value. As explained earlier by a member here, there is a crush factor that is calculated(roughly saying) as a number related to the deceleration and the velocity of the vehicle. Higher the velocity of vehicle, lesser is the deceleration required to trigger the airbags and vice versa. Hence, it is just an indicative notation to say that airbags should typically deploy in a crash of more than 8mph velocity or so. Here, 8mph or say any velocity is never the lower limit for triggering.

I have a document that explains the whole thing discussed in this thread but since its in my mobile, I will upload it sometime. It will clarify all the aspects of airbags.

[carwatcher]

I personally don't feel comfortable with the idea of Airbag deploying in a car that is not moving or parked. Reason, Airbags open at such a fast speed that they can seriously injure/kill the occupant especially the kids. Also they can shock and even give burn injuries to the occupants who are not familiar with their functioning (which I am sure most of the people aren't). That also may be the reason why they were linked to wearing of seat belts in first place. Also even the cost figures can be ignored altogether, won't the time spent by the car in garage for repair won't turn many people to switching them off and forgetting to put them back on.
Also people are more relaxed while in a parked car and they may also not be having their seat belts on, so a small accident from rear ending can result in fatal injuries.
I firmly believe that Airbags should not deploy just like that, there has to be demanding circumstances for there deployment.

Originally Posted by giri1.8

I don't understand why they consider speed of the vehicle as an entity. Let's assume someone has parked their vehicle properly and some idiot coming in the opposite direction rams the car at high speed, shouldn't the airbag deploy in this case? makes no sense to me.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

This implies that airbags should not deploy if there is a collision when a moving object hits a stationary vehicle.
But that shouldn't be the case, right?
It essentially makes passengers sitting ducks if there is a head-on/rear collision with a vehicle at high speeds.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

I personally don't feel comfortable with the idea of Airbag deploying in a car that is not moving or parked. Reason, Airbags open at such a fast speed that they can seriously injure/kill the occupant especially the kids. Also they can shock and even give burn injuries to the occupants who are not familiar with their functioning (which I am sure most of the people aren't). That also may be the reason why they were linked to wearing of seat belts in first place. Also even the cost figures can be ignored altogether, won't the time spent by the car in garage for repair won't turn many people to switching them off and forgetting to put them back on.
Also people are more relaxed while in a parked car and they may also not be having their seat belts on, so a small accident from rear ending can result in fatal injuries.
I firmly believe that Airbags should not deploy just like that, there has to be demanding circumstances for there deployment.

Well, I have few replies :

• Car won't be stationary after a strong collision, if airbags don't deploy its same as having a head-on collision while on the move without any airbags(in case of head-on collision of course)
• Kids should avoid occupying the front seats
• Occupants mostly spend their time on a stationary car on signals, parked on the side of highways, airbags can be designed to be not deployed if they are not wearing seatbelt.
  I am no expert so I might be wrong, feel free to correct me

[GTO]

Didn't hit the area where the sensors are located? Shows that Airbags aren't a perfect science.

T.L.Rau from Chennai drops the following email:

Unfortunately met with an huge accident . A cow crossed the road which made me lose control of the vehicle and hit the cow. The cow lifted 6 to 8 feet from the ground level and fell down on the road...and rolled for about 50 mt. You can imagine the impact of the accident. By God’s grace, there was no major injury to me, but I have few neck and body pains. The vehicle got completely damaged from the front side.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by GTO

Didn't hit the area where the sensors are located? Shows that Airbags aren't a perfect science.

Was the deployment necessary? It does seem to have hit where the sensors are located. Whether it did or not, I am wondering why the airbags didnt deploy. Is it one of those faulty airbags? Overall, I guess the animal cushioned the impact. RIP Cow! You left the owner with quite some damage!

[GTO]

T.L.Rau shares the following update:

I would like to confirm that I have checked the Airbag sensor; it is not behind the front bumper...it is in the middle / center of bonnet locking mechanism, exactly where the Bonnet gets locked, the sensor is behind it. So in my case, the collision is at front only exactly on the sensor, please find attached picture for reference.

I think the impact was quite enough to deploy the sensor as it was direct impact in middle.

[rajneeesh]

Could it be that the car was equipped with the faulty Takata airbags that have been the case of massive recalls by a host of car makers. In this case Toyota India needs to investigate throughly and recall the cars if required.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by T.L. Rau

By God’s grace, there was no major injury to me, but I have few neck and body pains.

Safe to assume he was wearing the seat-belt? I hope the service center technicians wouldn’t say that the car did not collide properly with the cow and thus the airbags did not deploy!

This is the second case of the Etios wherein the airbags didn't deploy. I hope this isn’t a case of a bad sensor?

[audioholic]

Defective airbags I feel. They should have deployed with or without wearing seatbelts. Guess he should demand a proper answer from someone more technically sound than the people at the dealership.

[Captain Slow]

Saw this post on Facebook.

Owner of the car Parvish Gopalan, met with an accident when his rammed into a pole, Air bags failed to deploy! The damage looks quite serious and the airbags should have deployed!

Hello,

I am writing this email to share my concerns & bad experiences faced recently when my Nissan Terrano met with an accident. I was very excited about buying this vehicle and had a very high standard of expectations from the brand.

1. My Terrano is equipped with airbags, but the airbags didn't deploy when the car met with an major accident wherein the impact could have resulted in serious injuries. I clearly understand that the airbags deploy based upon the assessments done by the ECU and the impact sensors placed in the car. I have appended the images which clearly indicates that the impact could have resulted in serious injuries and the airbags failed to deploy to ensure safety of the drive & his co-passenger, would like to get an appropriate response on this as it raises concerns on my safety while driving the car in the near future. I had booked a variant which comes loaded with safety features such as airbags but if it doesn't serve the purpose what is the point of having one. I was wearing a seat belt so there's no excuse and this is something which raises concerns on the safety compliances.

2. After reaching the Manumatic Nissan service station in Kannur Kerala and inquiring about the failure of airbag deployment the service center manager said that he will check the reasons and apprise me on the same ( i had asked the service center manager to giving it in writing or send an email about how the airbag work in Nissan Terrano ), however he was not able to clarify and resolve my queries. Every time my questions remained unanswered and the whole experience of even getting their attention to get my car reviewed and repaired was painful. My car was kept aside in an open space and went unnoticed for 9-10 days, after multiple visits to the service center they hadn't even initiated the process of looking into the damages incurred and giving us the estimation for us to get the same evaluated.

3. I wasn't expecting this kind of a treatment from Nissan, the whole experience till date has been unsatisfactory. Its been more than 2 months and the repair is still on and they haven't clearly indicated a date to deliver the vehicle.

Your kind attention in this regard will be truly appreciated

Regards,
Parvish Gopalan

From what I understand, Nissan has got in touch with the owner and asked him for his number.

Dear Parvish, we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you. Kindly share your details with us, we will get in touch with you shortly for the resolution.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...52737467235950

[svsantosh]

If the sensors are 2 and either of them ended up right outside the impact zone (iron pillar) then its a possible cause why the airbags didnt deploy. Even if my guess holds good, Nissan (or any car maker which sells cars with Air bags) cannot expect all customers to hit a 6-foot wide brick wall bang straight like in youtube videos!!

Either such cars need more sensors, or a training should be given to customers on how to bang-open the airbags!

[ajmat]

Additionally, most crashes are usually frontal offset crashes. Very rare;y do accidents hit dead centre like this one

[Guna]

I find something unusual about this picture.
There are no skid or tyre marks on the muddy road
No shattered glass (from the headlights) around.
There is no space behind where the car is standing now. It is standing offset form the actual road.
Does anyone else think the same?

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by Guna

I find something unusual about this picture.
There are no skid or tyre marks on the muddy road
No shattered glass (from the headlights) around.
There is no space behind where the car is standing now. It is standing offset form the actual road.
Does anyone else think the same?

Even though there are no skid marks near the tyres, you can see some unsettled stones and mud behind the car.
Headlight glass may not have shattered as I can see them hanging below and almost intact.
The car is on the wrong side of the road (the edge of road can be seen on right of the picture). The driver may have slept, the car drifted to the wrong side and hit the pole. There could be 100 different ways this could have happened.

[SmartCat]

Very likely its a low speed impact (maybe 20 to 30 kmph). The cabin is intact. The windscreen hasn't shattered. There were no driver or passenger injurious (this is an assumption because the owner hasn't mentioned it).

The car looks a bit of a mess because it crashed into a metal object with sharp edges.

I would be very upset if my car's airbags HAD deployed in such a scenario.