Drivers airbag didn't deploy but passengers did

runwad

Dis Veteran
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
So my DD rear ended someone tonight. She drives a 2003 VW Beetle. She was only going around 20mph, it was in bumper to bumper traffic and the person in front stopped quickly and well you know kids, she was travelling too close and hit her. The other persons car had some scratches on the back but she basically took our info and drove away. Meanwhile, police had DD's car towed because the passenger side air bag deploying and her front end was smushed in a little. Although my mechanic said it will probably be totalled because of the air bag coming out and it being too much to fix and how the front end was hit :-(.

Is it odd that the passenger side air bag deployed when she didn't have a passenger, but her air bag on the drivers side didn't? Could it have been defective or is that normal? She didn't need it but I just found it odd that the one side came out and her's didn't. I guess I'm thinking maybe this is a blessing in disguise if she had gotten in a more serious accident and the air bag didn't deploy to protect her.

Wonder if anyone had any thoughts on this? Thanks.
 
Could be a few things:
Everything could have been fine and only one went off based off where exactly the impact was

Driver side airbag could be non funtional

Passenger side airbag system could have been too sensitive.

Might be worthwhile having it investigated if the car is going to be repaired.
 
Dd21 rear ended a car driving slowly in a 2003 Honda Odyssey. The van was totaled, the entire hood was crumpled, no airbags were deployed. Our mechanic was stunned after looking at the pictures.
 
Now that I think about it, mine didn't deploy when my 2010 Rogue was hit head on by a flying Tahoe. I did have a set go off one time when I hit a curb (ice) going about 15mph. No other damage to the car but the insurance totalled it because replacing the air bag would cost more than the car was worth.


It could have been sensors? maybe the angle that she hit at the sensors thought the passenger side needed it and the driver didn't? Crumple zones tend to make wrecks look worse than they actually are.
 


Thanks guys, your responses make me feel better. I kept worrying about, "what ifs" that I don't need to be concerning myself with. DD is fine and that's all that matters:love:.
 
Meanwhile, police had DD's car towed because the passenger side air bag deploying and her front end was smushed in a little. Although my mechanic said it will probably be totalled because of the air bag coming out and it being too much to fix and how the front end was hit :-(.

No other damage to the car but the insurance totalled it because replacing the air bag would cost more than the car was worth.

I don't know how much replacing airbags cost. But, check into auto salvage yards or auto junkyards online for used parts that can replace the bumper & fenders and other parts. Those places aren't what we stereotypically see on TV shows, of old cars just piled on top of each other, waiting to be put in a huge car compacter & smushed down. Well, maybe they are. But, nowadays they remove and inventory on computer all the usable parts that can be used as replacements for other cars.

I once Googled and bought a used speedometer for my 10 year old car. New, it would have cost me $300 to replace, which is what the mechanic wanted to sell me. I got a used one online shipped to me for $75. That is quite a savings! These places can just ship the parts directly to your mechanic. And you aren't paying the mechanic for the time to look all the same info up and order it and tacking on a profit on the parts. Or you may be able to find an auto salvage yard locally.
 
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Well the mechanic I towed the car too said it would probably be around 5k to fix, more than the car is worth, but he typically runs high. I called a Body Shop 30 min away that we used before who was very reasonable. When I told him all the things that would probably need replaced and just rough estimate what did he thing he said between 2500-3k. But that depends if the dash isn't cracked. For some reason if the dash is cracked a part has to be gotten from the dealer. So tomorrow since I have AAA I'm gonna have it towed to him and see what he says.

Honestly this was originally my inlaws car and it is pretty much in pristine shape. With only 70k miles on the car if we can get it fixed for 3k we will. No where else can I buy a kid car for 3k that I know what all is going on with it. So we'll just wait and see what the Body shop guy says. I trust him to tell us if it would be a good investment or if we should just scrap it.

It's just hard to believe looking at the car that it would be scrapped. I feel like she can just drive it around like that. Too bad the hood is smooshed in a little,ha, we'll see.
 
Sorry to hear about the accident. This is what I do for a living.

The car is totaled, no question about it. If you want to keep the salvage, you certainly can, but it's a total by insurance standards. The dash is likely damaged, they usually are from passenger airbag deployment. Honestly, just my opinion, I'd let it go. The Beetle was a horribly unreliable car, at that age you were just a financial sinkhole waiting to happen.

Not uncommon at all about the airbag deployment. Lots of sensors, computer controlled.
 
Sorry to hear about the accident. This is what I do for a living.

The car is totaled, no question about it. If you want to keep the salvage, you certainly can, but it's a total by insurance standards. The dash is likely damaged, they usually are from passenger airbag deployment. Honestly, just my opinion, I'd let it go. The Beetle was a horribly unreliable car, at that age you were just a financial sinkhole waiting to happen.

Not uncommon at all about the airbag deployment. Lots of sensors, computer controlled.
Thanks for responding I was hoping someone like you would come along.

Boo-hoo though, it's a fun little car to drive around, did I mention it's a convertible. We've never put any money into that car beyond regular oil changes; expect for new tires and a battery. And those were only in the last couple of years. It's really only been driven for recreation and around our small town.

We'll see what the body shop guy says, doesn't cost me anything to have him look at it. I only had liability on it so insurance isn't involved at all. But I don't want to own a money pit so we'll make sure to do our due diligence.
 
You may be able to get a body shop to piece it together enough for you to drive it, lots of people do that. Just make sure they do any structural repairs properly. The bumper itself is just cosmetic for the most part, it's only designed to absorb very tiny bumps. Same with the hood, just cosmetic, serves no collision functions. So no worries there. But there are components called radiator support and aprons that are structural. If they're bent (radiator support likely is), make sure they address it.

Glad you liked the car and have had good luck with it. Generally speaking, the Beetle was not known for quality, so just something to keep in mind.
 
Honestly this was originally my inlaws car and it is pretty much in pristine shape. With only 70k miles on the car if we can get it fixed for 3k we will. No where else can I buy a kid car for 3k that I know what all is going on with it.

The car is totaled, no question about it. If you want to keep the salvage, you certainly can, but it's a total by insurance standards.

You may be able to get a body shop to piece it together enough for you to drive it, lots of people do that. Just make sure they do any structural repairs properly.

Yes, the "book price" & "insurance" standards may say the car is totaled. But, OP, as you've said, you know the history and the condition of the car otherwise, that those standards don't take in on a practical level. Their norms are of cars that are normally used a lot. Not pristine cars.

You could end up buying a newer $5K car, that breaks down more often later on, because of how the previous owner didn't take care of it. Hopefully, your body shop guy can fix your car back up and it still has a lot of life to it.
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Sorry to hear of the Ax but awfully glad to hear no one injured! Good luck with the vehicle!
 
I don't know what exact year they started putting sensors in the passengers seat, but if there isn't someone weighing at least 65 pounds in the passengers seat, the airbag on that side won't deploy no matter how bad the crash. My 2003 did not have this feature, my 2007 does.
Sounds like a failure of the driver's side airbag to me. Could be the airbag, could be the wiring.
 
I've had a fairly low speed head-on and neither car had deploying airbags. So it's certainly possible. I've never been in a car where the airbags deployed, and I've been in a number of collisions. There are any number of reasons why one wouldn't deploy, but once could be that the airbag chemicals in bag degraded over time. The whole Takata airbag recall seems to be a result of the pyrotechnic chemicals changing over time.

I did see the results of a vehicle that I believe was was going downhill without hydraulic brakes into a dead end with a short concrete wall. The car literally jumped over the wall and was apparently only slowed down by the parking brake and being in the lowest gear. Couldn't have been going more than 15 MPH but when I saw the driver and passenger they were walking. The airbags were clearly deployed.
 
Sorry but... "only" 20mph??? No, that is fast enough to be a pretty sizeable impact, as evidenced by the fact that an airbag deployed. You absolutely don't go 20mph in bumper-to-bumper traffic. That doesn't really make sense.
 
...Is it odd that the passenger side air bag deployed when she didn't have a passenger, but her air bag on the drivers side didn't? Could it have been defective or is that normal? She didn't need it but I just found it odd that the one side came out and her's didn't. I guess I'm thinking maybe this is a blessing in disguise if she had gotten in a more serious accident and the air bag didn't deploy to protect her.

Wonder if anyone had any thoughts on this? Thanks.

RE: the passenger side -
Did she maybe have a bag or backpack on the seat? I've had my car "think" there was someone there before.

RE: the driver's side -
Yes, quite possibly a blessing in disguise!
 

Sigh...

Your comment was "if there isn't someone weighing at least 65 pounds in the passengers seat, the airbag on that side won't deploy no matter how bad the crash". That is absolutely and completely false. Even in what you quoted, it never says anything about 65 lbs. Deployment is based on complicated algorithms that take a huge number of factors into account...weight, distribution of that weight, vehicle speed, seat belt usage, yaw, roll over, on and on... It will vary from car to car, as there are somewhat different systems, but the idea is the same. A passenger airbag can and without a doubt will deploy without at least 65lbs in it. I literally see it daily. I've seen bags deploy when you would never expect and vice versa. It's all about what the computer thinks is best for the occupants.

I don't need to look it up, it's my career. Heck, just a few months ago I flew across the country to take a multi day course on crash data retrieval, which of course ties to the airbags (though not required). Fascinating stuff. It's not a magic number of 65lbs...
 

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