[LeeH]

I had a similar question about a Dodge Neon we had. A guy turned left in front of my wife and she hit him pretty hard. I contacted Chrysler customer care. They were concerned beyond my belief. An engineer from Chrysler contacted me immediately and asked several questions about the accident and explained some things.

As someone pointed out, airbags do their own damage. The engineer explained that the newer airbags don't go off as easily as the previous generation. My wife had a little seatbelt bruising, but nothing else was wrong... and so the airbags should not have deployed. It sounds like the same goes for your case.

Chrysler sent engineers to the body shop to take readings from our car's computer. They said that the sensors never told the airbags to deploy, thus there was not enough force generated to justify the deployment. If a signal had been sent and the bags had not deployed, then there would have been a problem.

The inflation speeds you quote are into a solid object. The car you hit doesn't qualify as a solid object since it crunched some and was likely moved sideways by the force of the impact.

Your car appears to have functioned properly. If you or your passenger were injured and the bags didn't blow you would be justified in considering a suit. The process of suing is there for people who have been injured... you were not.

A footnote: My wife was charge with this accident as the guy she hit claimed the light was red and he was clearing with intersection. We had a witness who said it was green, but she wouldn't go to court. The guy my wife hit tried to claim he was injured and sue for pain and suffering... however, there were several witnesses who saw him jump out of the car after the accident and dance across the intersections singing, "Hot damn! I got me a new car!!!"