ot accident, what to do?

fred hannah · 05-15-2002, 08:01 AM

was in a accident in my 2001 nissan exterra going about 20 mph, t boned another car(she ran a red light) she was going about 35. heres my problem, neither airbag in my car went off. no one in my car was hurt, but the things just didnt go off like they should have, my car sustained some petty bad front damage. do i have a case of product liability because they didnt go off? i paid alot of money for this airbag protection system and they failed to perform, what do you think?

rstoll · 05-15-2002, 08:11 AM

Sounds like you need a TV lawyer.

Jim Sims · 05-15-2002, 08:23 AM

You should be glad you didn't have enough deacceleration to deploy the bags. Getting hit in the face with a bag of hot gas going at two hundred miles an hour is only to be wished for when you really need it. I would guess the system worked as designed. Some of these systems try and gage the accident on the basis of front end deformation and deacceleration rates. I suspect the combination of a T-bone hit, low speeds and the crumple zone working moderated the deacceleration rates and saved your nose. I doubt you have a case. Cheers, Jim

scotsman60 · 05-15-2002, 08:33 AM

I agree with Jim. The sensors that cause the airbag to deploy measure the acceleration profile of the car and will only deploy if decelleration levels exceed some pre-defined limits.

Lots of frontal damag is really a good thing as far as occupant safety is concerned - it means that the vehicle speed has been reduced over a realtively long distance - for minimum acceleration you want to go from impact velocity to zero over as long a distance/time as possible.

I'd just be pleased that there was no serious injury and of course talk to your dealer to give you peace of mind about the airbag system - they should be bale to test it pretty easily.

Doug

wckrause · wckrause's Garage

"alot of money for this airbag protection system and they failed to perform"....."no one in my car was hurt"

I don't get your point.

Planter91C2 · 05-15-2002, 09:00 AM

don't worry. i got into 2 similiar accidents with my grand cherokee. each repair was over $8,000.00 in collision work (all paid for by other driver's insurance as it was their fault). airbag didn't deploy in either accident and the entire front end was smashed.

Moses · 05-15-2002, 09:14 AM

Run your car into a brick wall at 50 MPH. If your airbag doesn't deploy, I would definitely have your wife call the lawyer.

Lookin' for a lawsuit with no injury. Shame on you.

rstoll · 05-15-2002, 09:39 AM

Yep, TV lawyer for a TV case. State Farm is not writing any new Homeowners policies in Louisiana now, thanks to the ambulance chasers advertising on the 6 0'clock news every evening. And guess where my premiums are going. "Kill all the lawyers...kill 'em tonight"

Saffs · 05-15-2002, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses

Lookin' for a lawsuit with no injury. Shame on you.

I think fred was asking what people thought, not what 1-800-LAWYER to dial.
As often, a little speedy to take something out context and burn someone at the stake. We're all guilty, at times, of that here....
Anyhow, my advice, call your Nissan and see what they think and ask for the specs. of airbag deployment.

Moses · 05-15-2002, 10:07 AM

He said, "Do I have a case of product liability?"

Sounds like trolling for a lawsuit to me.

If he had said, " I think my airbag failed, I think I'll ask Nissan to replace it." I have no problem with that.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

If no one was injured, where is the product liability? Sounds like the vehicle did *exactly* what it was supposed to do...the frame and crumple zones absorbed the impact and protected the passengers. The airbags were not needed, as the force was not sufficient to warrant their deployment because of an intelligent design..

If I were you I'd write Nissan a thank you letter.

jlex · jlex's Garage

Yeah, State Farm has had to pay out lots on homeowner's policies because a lot of people have made claims on their auto policies. Doesn't make sense. Can be sure there's some corporate hijinks here to rationalize their moratorium. Don't worry, the insurance industry is VERY healthy, thank you. Sounds like an Enron type scheme (as it drove up electricity prices in California). Corporate America at its worst.
regards,
jlex.

John Brandt · 05-15-2002, 10:57 AM

If you want to sue somebody, I'd start with the chick who ran the red.

fred hannah · 05-15-2002, 11:47 AM

ok, i hear all of you loud and clear about the tv lawyer stuff, the friviluss law suit claims and all, but i think you may have missunderstood my concern. first of all i dont and wont sue the lady who ran the red light, im not the kind of person who would do that, no harm no foul attitude. but the air bags failed to deploy in a severe accident, what are they for if they dont deploy when they are supose to? its kinda like saying my abs brakes failed on a slippery road and caused me to slide off the road into a field but since i didnt hit anything everything is ok? what situation would i be in if i were going 65 and got into a accident and they didnt deploy then? i consider myself lucky i wasnt going faster when this airbag decided not to do its job. these things are supose to deploy between 6-12 mph in a head on colisition. ive done alittle research on this subject since this happened. thanks for all your honest replys.

SeaDweller · 05-15-2002, 12:00 PM

A head on collision at 12mph would cause an immediate deceleration, which would more than likely cause the bags to deploy. In your case, a "T-bone," there was continued forward movement of the vehicle, along with an "activation" of the crumple zones. I may be wrong, but it seems the system worked as intended.

Folks have received worse injuries from air bags, then they might have from the accident itself. Had the air bags deployed, you may have been looking at the prospect of neck injuries, a broken nose, etc. Instead, you walked away unharmed.

Jim Sims · 12:33 PM

You didn't have a head-on collision with a wall or other car coming towards you which is probably what that deployment speed number is based on. You impacted the relatively soft side of a car at about 90 degrees to its axis of travel which is about the same as having it not moving. The physics of your collision appears to be under the trigger threshold. You may have also been going more slowly than you think at impact. On some of these vehicles it is possible to interogate the vehicle's computer and it will tell one what the vehicle speed and deaccelerations were when the accident occurred. This kind of hard data may help or hinder your case if you elect to sue. Cheers, Jim

dtw · 05-15-2002, 12:25 PM

I believe the decision point is around 35mph - I could be wrong - this is from talking to adjusters when I was a tow man who may or may not have known what they were talking about.

I have seen around 100 wrecks similar to what you describe; I can't think of one where the airbags deployed. Doesn't sound like you needed them, either.

Car mfgs. make sure the bags only go off as necessary; they are a very expensive component to replace for insurance companies. Driver side ones were bad, then passenger side ones made the cost even worse...in most cars, when the passenger side bag triggers, the dash cover is blown straight up and requires extensive work to replace/repair.

Be glad everyone's OK; back off your guns. Too much litigation in this world already.

LeeH · 12:32 PM

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!!!"

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

According to some brief research, the accelerometers are set to close the contact switch (and do some azide chemistry!) when they feel a collision force equivalent to running into a brick wall at 10-15mph (16-24kph). Even though you were traveling at 20mph, your impact was with a movable object traveling orthogonal to you. My newtonian physics is a bit rusty, but I would venture a guess that the forces involved are significantly less than running into a brick wall, or head on into another vehicle.

Planter91C2 · 05-15-2002, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fred hannah
ok, i hear all of you loud and clear about the tv lawyer stuff, the friviluss law suit claims and all, but i think you may have missunderstood my concern. first of all i dont and wont sue the lady who ran the red light, im not the kind of person who would do that, no harm no foul attitude. but the air bags failed to deploy in a severe accident, what are they for if they dont deploy when they are supose to? its kinda like saying my abs brakes failed on a slippery road and caused me to slide off the road into a field but since i didnt hit anything everything is ok? what situation would i be in if i were going 65 and got into a accident and they didnt deploy then? i consider myself lucky i wasnt going faster when this airbag decided not to do its job. these things are supose to deploy between 6-12 mph in a head on colisition. ive done alittle research on this subject since this happened. thanks for all your honest replys.

in my 2 accidents i was going 40 to 45mph when the car ran infront of me. whole front of the vehicle smashed. my body even broke the tilt wheel on one accident. no airbag deployed.

maybe there is some physics due to the other vehicles forward movement or something?

i didn't complain that an explosive device didn't detonate in my face i was unhurt and happy.