Freak Airbag Deployment

[Manik68]

So Saturday morning I'm driving to come home from my school house, after I make a right turn I start to accelerate and go to the left lane, cuz I need to take a left at the next light. When I’m mid way into the left lane (no cars around, no pot holes, no shit on the road, nothing)… BAM!!! I thought I got shot in the arm. After recollecting, I look to my left and realize the driver side airbag and the seat airbag deployed, hitting and thus burning my arm. I pull into a parking lot, press the air out of the bags, get out and look at the car…. Nothing… I look underneath the car… nothing. I took her in to Jim Ellis VW yesterday (Monday) and now just have to sit tight and wait for them to ‘investigate.’ I also called VW and filed a claim. I guess I could sue them, but I’m not after all of that, I just want them to cover the cost of fixing it and a rental. They said the car is out of warranty, so they “probably” won’t cover that. Well fortunately I was only going at about 25 mph and no cars were around me. What if I had been going down 85? What if I had my head out the window (ok that’s kinda dumb, but you get where I’m going with this.) Anyway, it’s been a crazy weekend and this is my first post here on IA… it’s also 2:32 am and I’m deliriously tired.

[Decker1.8t]

hehe. Airbags suck when they explode randomly. Hopefully they figure out what the hell happened and you get your car back soon.

Welcome to the boards man.

FYI: Manik is my cousin

[Flip]

Jeez, thats not safe. Is that a known problem with your car? What kind of car was it exactaly? Good thing it didn't freak you out so bad you hit something like on 85 like you were saying... Let us know what they do for you... You might should sue for the money to cover all of your expenses incured for taking care of this incident. That should NOT have happened even out of warenty... Good luck!

[Manik68]

Or when they don't work at all. Dad got into a wreck several months ago, his head slammed into the windshield... no airbags (no seatbelt either :confused: ) And one of our fellow friend's cousin got t-boned in her jetta, totalled the car... again... no air bags. When at the VW dealer today I picked up one of their maintenance schedule brochures just to take a look at it. I couldn't help but notice that they said the airbags go through a "visual check." hmmmmmmmm ... I know relatively little about airbags, but in light of all of that, maybe they should have a way of being more thorough about checking the airbags than just a glance over?

[Manik68]

Yeah, I kinda laugh about it myself since all I got was a welt on my left arm. Then I also think about the face I must have made. I seriously almost shat myself.

Jeez, thats not safe. Is that a known problem with your car? What kind of car was it exactaly? Good thing it didn't freak you out so bad you hit something like on 85 like you were saying... Let us know what they do for you... You might should sue for the money to cover all of your expenses incured for taking care of this incident. That should NOT have happened even out of warenty... Good luck!

I don't know if that's a known problem, that's kinda what I'm trying to figure out now. She's a 2001.5 V6 Passat GLX with just over 80k.

I'll tell you one thing, a-pillar guages are no longer an option in my mind. I don't know exactly which way they would have shot out, but the fact that the airbag deploys at 200 mph, and I'm only 2 feet away from a projectile of significant size and weight, I'd be a very bitter person walking around with an imprint of the gauges on my face. That and seat covers I wanted to get from Katzkin... :jerkit:... since the seat airbag just ripped clean through it.

Now I drive with the seat as far back and keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle.

Paranoia is not a good thing to get after you blow $3k on a PES G2 blower.

[4dmin]

ya man that fucking sucks... just make some phone calls; you should be able to get it covered. that really sucks though. glad your ok.


* SEE WHAT HAPPENS EVEN AT 25MPH ALL THAT TORQUE AND DEPLOY AIR BAGS!!! *

[rollininstyle2004]

Dude...i still cant believe this...crazy. Since you told me about it yesterday I keep thinking about it when im driving

[Manik68]

OK so here's the update:

Jim Ellis service guy calls me and says there was in fact a crash code in the computer, meaning there was in fact an impact. I asked if he saw any physical damage to that side of the car. He said he saw a patched up area on the driver door. OK, I accept that. The only concern I have with that is that the damage on the door he is reffering to happened years ago. I think about 3. So I asked is there ANY other damage besides that. The answer was no.

So there are two possible scenarios:

1) The air bag took 3 years to deploy. As much as I would love for this to be the case, just because it would be so funny to think that a safety measure deployed at 200mph and burned the fuck out of my arm... 3 years later, I know this is not the case because I have a VAG-com and have not seen any crash codes prior to the incident on saturday. Now that I think about it, I wish I had ran a vag on it afterwards before taking it in. But I digress.

2) Something ELSE hit my car and deployed the airbags. However this concerns me even more. There is no evidence of anything else hitting the side of my car, I didn't see anything, nor did I feel anything, and the service guys can't find anything. So something so insignificant hit my car, and BAM my arm is nearly taken off by the airbags. That sucks. Now I'm scared to ride anywhere near trucks hawling anything. God forbid a pebble falls out and hits my bumper, POOF I have a pillow... too bad going to sleep cruising at 90 mph down the highway is a bad idea.

I'm not amused.

So now I'm waiting for the dealer to call VW and tell them what they told me and then VW to call me and discuss what will be done.

ps - I'm on spring break.

[rollininstyle2004]

Hm...

Option 1) that would be pretty funny...well not FUNNY, but amusing to think it actually took 3 years to deploy...

Option 2) AFAIK thoose sensors have to be hit HARD and in only certain areas to trigger that crash code and deploy the airbags. In complete honestly i cannot think of a single situation where thoose sensors could get impacted enough to cause the code without having ANY visual damage to the vehicle...

What do you think VW is going to do? A new drivers seat and a new A pillar airbag and cover? I dont think you should have to pay anything to get this fixed...sounds like something VW should take care of, however we all know what VWoA is like

[CasaS4]

wow...that is quite scary.

I guess if VW wont take care of it, I'm sure those 'investigative reporters' on the local news channels could help you out.

[Manik68]

Yeah, they sure as fuck are giving me the run around. "We will get back to you by the end of the day with some updates." :jerkit: I didn't want to be a dick and just go after money or whatever, but now I think they're just walking all over me. They've had Sexy for over a week now and nothing conclusive at all. Maybe I should call up local news or something. Suggestions?

[Decker1.8t]

Call VW of America.

[paulg18]

which Jim Ellis.. the one in marrieta sucks ass, they are all a-holes. Anyone think the same?

[Decker1.8t]

I've only had to deal w/ the one doraville/chamblee. They were pretty friendly.

[Five*Star*]

Wow, I don't like airbags. Everycar I have owned that was equipped with an airbag I replaced the wheel with a non-airbag wheel (minus my 2 S-10 trucks).

I guess I really need to keep my 9 month old daughter from playing on my lap while parked at the store waiting for mommy to come out. It crosses my mind evrytime she wants to play with the dash stuff, and try to climb on the steering wheel of my S-10 Blazer.

[Decker1.8t]

hehe. an airbag saved my life. I'm glad they exist.

[Manik68]

So VWoA doesn't want to pay for it because they said there was evidence of an impact other than the one done 3 years ago...... I asked them to send photos, so I could take a look myself. It is a scrape on the undercarriage of the car, at best slightly larger than the size of a quarter. Since I lowered Sexy about a year ago or so, I have bottomed out a few times on those rediculous speed bumps or a greatly angled drive way. If that caused an airbag to deploy... fine... it sucks, cuz I don't need a SIDE airbag for bottoming out, but whatever. However, I did not bottom out on a perfectly straight road. I was on Lavista and N. Druid Hills. So I said, ok but the airbag did not deploy when I could have caused that damage. The guy said "well we can't tell you when the airbag deployed." :confused: I don't need you to tell me when the airbag deployed, I know very well myself. I am concerned that the airbag deployed after the fact, and for something very insignificant relative to instances where I would in fact need an airbag. "well we can't tell you when the airbag deployed. So you'll have to take this up with your insurance company, and if they don't want to pay for it, they can take it up with us." Well I guess I'm going to the VP of Customer CARE of VWoA and if that doesn't work I'll f'in talk Mr. Wagen himself. I want Sexy back, damnit!

[rollininstyle2004]

Thats insane...just make sure not to back down. There was no reason for this and you should not have to pay for anything. A little quater sized scrape on the undercarrage is hardly means for 2 side airbags to deploy

[2.0civic]

Thats fucked up man. Have you found out anymore info on if this is a known problem?? they should fix it free of cost anyway, since it is a safety issue. I would take it to the news and report the shitty service to them. One pissed off customer and bad publicity coud fuck them really bad....it may motivate them to do more other than just standing with their thumbs up their asses.

[SwurvinIn]

see...at least your airbags actually work. i have a 2005 accord and i got into a pretty bad wreck and my airbags didnt go off....the car thinks they did tho. i kid u not, the guy from the body shop called me like 2 days ago and told me that he hooked his computer up and the SRS system is reading an "airbag deployment" code...so in essence the car thinks they blew.....fuckin japanese garbage

[HeLLo iM iZzY]

hit up fox 5 and they their i-team investigator can come help you out...lol...jk but if I was u right now I would be looking for a lawyer and slappin them w/ a fukin lawsuit..

[R3RUN]

yea airbags randomly deploying could have killed you and anyone else that was in your car or another if you had actually crashed. they cant seriously think that a quarter sized scrape on the undercarriage would cause the air bags to deploy. what if you ran over a soda and the cap blew off? would that set the airbags off? also wtf is an impact sensor doing on the undercarriage? might be useful in case you park on a dormant volcano.