Hey All,


My girlfriend at work got into a car accident on the way to work yesterday, surprise surprise there is another fault with GM. Her air bag did not go off and she ended up smashing her face off of the steering wheel. She opened a case with GM because of the issue and she was told they also know about these faulty airbag and have not sent out any recalls yet and there are trying to keep it on the down-low because of the whole fiasco with the failing ignitions. She already went and got her ignition replaced so that was not the cause of the failed airbag.

Well here you go now you all know, here is a little article below from the New York times. Also a picture of her car so you can clearly see the airbag SHOULD have gone off.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/bu...aths.html?_r=0

 

Wow

Is she ok?

 

If I remember right, the airbag sensor is on the bumper support, which was not hit on this car, not causing the airbags to go off. I could be wrong though.

 

yea shes fine just bumped with sore muscles. im not sure about sensors either but her engine was pushed all the way to the firewall so there was a very significant impart.

 

This. These things happen all the time, you have to hit the sensor for it to function correctly.

 

That was my first thought, the crash bar is below the headlights and that area looks untouched so it's quite possible the accident didn't do enough damage to deploy the bags. Was she wearing her seatbelt? I don't want to sound like an *******, but under medium braking my seat belt locks and there's no way my head would hit the wheel without my head ripping off first . If she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, she's lucky the bags didn't go off, it could have killed her.

 

well she did go into the back of a civic so I am sure the sensor was hit, it was not like she went into the back of a truck and went under. Plus the front bumper was cracked down the centre so it hit something.

 

Correct.

There are times if an airbag were to deploy it would cause more harm than good.

 

she was wearing her seatbelt cause her shoulder is bruised and burnt.

 

Engine was pushed back because the radiator support took the brunt of the impact. Unfortunately the bumper support houses the airbag sensor, hence why it didn't deploy.

Functioning as designed. Carry on.

 

Still doesn't mean the sensor was hit, the split could of been caused from where the car slid under, if its above the crash bar it wouldn't of been hit.

I'm glad she's alright though

 

Doesn't the seatbelt grab only work if you're on the brakes? Maybe she rear ended him not having hit her own brakes.

I've seen rolled vehicles with no airbag deployment. That sensor needs to be hit.

 

I believe it also works if you jerk forward quickly.

 

The sensor does not need to be "hit" to cause the airbag to deploy, the sensors are G meters, which in this case probably should have deployed the airbags, it depends entirely on the speed. While location does make a difference in most respects as to how they will detect a crash, on the upper rad support is still central enough where it should have detected the g force from the crash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTvPndZOP9g

 

Here's a perfect example of how G force plays a factor in the car's crash response system, the G force upon launch of hennessey's 700+hp CTS-V was enough to trigger an onstar "emergency" as the car thought it was involved in an accident. It was enough G force for what would be considered a "low impact force" crash, something that wouldnt have deployed the air bags but more than likely locked all the seatbelts up etc. If more g force had been applied to the sensor on launch, there is even greater risk the airbags could have deployed at the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8As1zshWxn0

 

Hey there,

I sent a PM your way! I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care