I crashed my car quite bad last night. Spun out and hit a hedgerow on the other side of the road, drivers side hit bank first, then the car went bonnet down, arse end up, onto the passenger side (where my son was sat) and then back onto the road....thankfully the right way up but on the opposite side of the road and facing the other way.
wasn't until I overheard paramedics talking to Drs that I realised.....the airbags didn't go off. Driver and passenger side. Obviously that's not normal but does anyone know why they wouldn't?

Not all models are fitted with a passenger airbag, it was an optional upgrade on the model I bought.

As for the driver's side, sorry, can't help.


Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as it could be

From what I understand (not much! ), a lot of factors are counted when an airbag goes or doesn't go off (speed, G-forces, angles and junk). Perhaps the car didn't deem it severe/dangerous enough to trigger the bags.

Funny though, does sound a hefty crash. Might be worth getting them all checked out somehow. Car would probably have been a write off if they had gone off though.

I remember there was a big thing about this a while back. Edit: "Airbags Didn't Deploy Since Driver Didn't Collide Properly"

atom0007 said:

Not all models are fitted with a passenger airbag, it was an optional upgrade on the model I bought.

As for the driver's side, sorry, can't help.


Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as it could be

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Mine has both

Noxide said:

From what I understand (not much! ), a lot of factors are counted when an airbag goes or doesn't go off (speed, G-forces, angles and junk). Perhaps the car didn't deem it severe/dangerous enough to trigger the bags.

Funny though, does sound a hefty crash. Might be worth getting them all checked out somehow. Car would probably have been a write off if they had gone off though.

I remember there was a big thing about this a while back. Edit: "Airbags Didn't Deploy Since Driver Didn't Collide Properly"

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Pretty sure it's a write off anyway when we started to spin we were going about 50mph....took my foot of accelerator but hit hedgerow pretty quick after. Airbags would have probably done more harm than good in this instance (friction burn etc) just would be nice to know what happened.

I am super glad that the car did what it was supposed to though. Despite the broken rear window, the inside of the car looks to be structurally intact

Setting off an airbag is a big decision. It has been compared to the punch of a heavyweight boxer. I have heard of techs getting badly injured setting the drivers one off accidentally.
Afaik many cars won't set the front bags off if the accelerations picked up by the sensors are mainly sideways.
Then again could be duff airbags
Glad to hear no one got too badly hurt, watch out for delayed shock. It creeps up on you.

Andy (puntohowto video maker)
His partner crashed there punto - and the airbag DIDN'T go off

Why?

the airbag control unit HAS to deem they are required

Just because you have a bump - which by the looks of it didnt deform the major structural parts - mostly cosmetic outer skin (Bumper wing bonnet)

If it was a hard enough crash to where the inner bits are crumpling up - then the airbag most likely deploy

Ziggy

are they still in date?

a chap called s&b posted these 2 pics some time ago, supposedly a little ball is inside there, and if it moves either way with enough force it activates airbags

WOW you made a proper mess of that.

Airbags are as pointed out a bit clever, they don't just deploy blindly and as you point out the collision was initially sideways. The airbag Ecu would have recognised the accident occurring and decided because of the sideways inertia decided to kill the system to prevent them going off and potentially causing injury.

Even then airbags don't always deploy despite the signal being sent, their is a very tiny amount of chemical which reacts very quickly it is not an explosion as you'd find in a stick of dynamite. It's a small and very rapid burn which produces a huge amount of gas to fill the bag. If the chemical reaction doesn't start properly or starts but stalls then sometimes you get a partial deployment or total failure.

Basically airbags are good when they do deploy but they commonly fail due to their complexity which is why they always tell you to wear a seat belt.

My other half hit the back of a stationary Audi A4 at 30mph and the airbags still didn't deploy, so the fire brigade who got her out of the car stuck warning stickers all over the inside to highlight the danger of the failed airbags

this?

flisko said:

this?

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Yep it's tin cans now.

Look at the bodywork above the back wheel. The Punto rearranged the whole back of the car

mhm didnt notice that dent above wheel till now

Note the C pillar is deformed as well

right above fuel tank flap near window?

To be honest, if it's a write off, I'd be happy as long as everyone inside is okay.

From what I know Airbags are primarily designed to operate at straight on impacts at speeds greater than 30 MPH. Normally speeds lower than that don't trigger the Airbags (I wrote my first Punto off a few years back hitting the back of a volvo and airbags didnt operate due to it being lowish speed, it actually helped the insurance claim as they are aware that airbags dont trigger at low speeds). As others have pointed out sideways forces dont tend to trigger the system either.

AndyRKett said:

Yep it's tin cans now.

Look at the bodywork above the back wheel. The Punto rearranged the whole back of the car

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Wow, that is a lot of damage! I assume your missus wasn't badly hurt?

AndyRKett said:

Basically airbags are good when they do deploy but they commonly fail due to their complexity which is why they always tell you to wear a seat belt.

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European airbags are designed to be used with the seat belt worn. Not wearing a belt when the airbags deploy could have the airbag still inflating as you hit it, potentially causing severe injuries. With the belt on, the airbag should be fully inflated before you contact it, so benefiting from the full cushioning effect.

American airbags deploy in stages, as many states do not have compulsory seatbelt wearing.

Front airbags are designed to deploy in a frontal impact and mostly will not deploy in a side impact. Side airbags should only deploy in a side impact, so it is unusual for all to be deployed. The collision that started this thread was initially a side impact, so I would not expect a front airbag to deploy, then spinning to the opposite side, again not a frontal impact, so no airbag.

Thankfully everyone ok, and the main structure did its job.