One of the most common phone calls we receive is from consumers wondering why their air bag did not deploy during a crash. This article describes how air bag deployment thresholds are established, the kinds of crashes during which air bags should deploy, and crashes where they may not deploy. It also provides information on several different defects that may be responsible for the air bag failing to deploy when it should deploy.
AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT THRESHOLDS
Conventional air bags are generally designed to deploy in certain frontal crashes above the thresholds selected by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, the consumer often cannot determine the thresholds for their car, as they vary widely between manufacturers, and even vary among different models from the same manufacturer. However, there are some general guidelines that are helpful for consumers.
Although there were some variations, most frontal air bags from the 1990s were designed to deploy in crashes above a threshold level of 14 mph into a solid concrete barrier. At the same time, most air bag systems were also designed to never deploy in crashes below 8 mph into a solid concrete barrier. Between these two speeds, the air bags may or may not deploy, depending on the specifics of the accident and vehicle.
Airbag Deployment Threshold
The bottom line is this: airbag should always deploy in every crash where they are likely to prevent serious personal injury or a wrongful death. If your crash severity exceeds the car company’s thresholds, and yet your air bags did not deploy, you may well have a defect in your vehicle’s air bag system.
CRASHES WHERE THE AIR BAG SHOULD DEPLOY
Your air bags should deploy in every crash where they will help prevent your injuries. This means that your air bag should deploy in those crashes where you would otherwise suffer injuries of the type that the air bag is designed to prevent: head, neck, and chest injuries. For example, your frontal air bag should deploy in an accident where your head would otherwise be injured from hitting your steering wheel. Shown here is an example of an accident vehicle in which the air bags should have deployed.
Ford Airbag Failed to Deploy
Although frontal air bags are generally not designed to deploy in side impacts or rollovers, in some cases they should deploy in those kinds of crashes. That is because some side impacts or rollovers also cause front-to-back deceleration that causes you to move forward inside your vehicle. One example would be if you were driving at highway speed and were hit on the side of your car: in addition to crushing in the side of the car, your car would also slow down its forward motion rapidly, which could be enough to deploy your frontal air bags. Similarly, frontal air bags should generally not deploy in rear impacts; however, if you are hit from behind and pushed into a car in front of you, that second impact to your car’s front end may justify deployment of your air bags.
For side impact air bags, they should generally deploy on the side of the car experiencing the side impact. Similarly, rollover “curtain” air bags should deploy when the vehicle experiences a rollover, to help prevent head and neck injuries and to reduce the risk of being ejected through an open or shattered window.
Examples of crashes where air bag deployment would be expected include moderate to severe crashes involving your front bumper or the front corners of your vehicle, frontal impacts to a utility or telephone pole, and under-ride impacts where the front of your car goes under the side or back of a truck.
CRASHES WHERE THE AIR BAG SHOULD NOT DEPLOY
Your air bags should not deploy in those accidents where they will not prevent your injuries. After all, air bags can deploy at speeds of more than 200 mph, and you should not be exposed to those kinds of forces if it won’t help you. Thus, your frontal air bags should not deploy in side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers where there is no significant deceleration from front to back. Other examples of crashes where your frontal air bags should not generally deploy include:
- Minor frontal crashes
- Most impacts to the undercarriage of the vehicle, such as when crossing a railroad, unless they would result in serious personal injury
- Impacts with animals such as deer or dogs
- Impacts with street curbs or parking blocks
- Driving on rough roads, including those with large potholes, gravel or bumps
Of course, your air bags should never deploy when your vehicle is not in an accident. Although this seems obvious, there are actually many cases where this has occurred, often due to poor design of the air bag system software, or due to electrical issues with the air bag system.
WHY YOUR AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY
There are several reasons why your air bag may not have deployed during a crash. The first reason is that perhaps your crash is not the type of accident where air bag deployment would be helpful. For frontal air bags, this includes many, but not all, side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers. This category also includes minor accidents in which the driver and front passenger (if there was one) did not suffer any significant injuries requiring medical treatment.
The second reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the crash sensors from detecting the crash properly. Our investigation and analysis of air bag systems in hundreds and hundreds of crashes has revealed numerous causes that fall within this category. In some cases, the air bag deployment threshold is simply not set appropriately, often due to inadequate testing. In other cases, a flaw in the software of the air bag control module has caused it to ignore the data from one of the crash sensors. In still other cases, there are simply too few sensors to properly detect real-world crashes; this often results from overly zealous cost-reduction efforts by car companies that are trying to improve their finances. In a few cases, quality control efforts have failed to prevent defective sensors or air bag control modules from reaching the public.
2002 Buick Century: Fatal Non-Deployment
The third reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the deployment signal from reaching the air bag modules and deploying them. Here, the problem usually lies with the electrical components and wiring between the crash sensors, control module and the air bag modules. The most frequent defect in this category that we see is when the driver air bag fails to deploy, but the passenger air bag does deploy. In many cases, this is due to a defective clockspring located in the steering column. Millions of defective clocksprings have been recalled, generally due to poor quality control at either the supplier’s production plant or the car company’s assembly plant.
Airbag Clockspring
Ford Airbag Sensor Cut Wire
The fourth reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the actual air bag modules from deploying correctly. In a few cases, the crash sensors and air bag control modules have commanded deployment of the air bags, but the air bags failed to respond. This is almost always due to defects within the air bag modules themselves, usually due to poor quality control.
Although each vehicle and each accident is different, I can help you determine whether the air bags in your car should have deployed in your accident. As an air bag attorney, as a former air bag engineer for General Motors, and as a court-recognized air bag expert witness, I have over 20 years of experience in analyzing air bag system performance. If your air bag system is defective and you have a case, I would be honored to pursue justice for you.
My daughter was in a car wreck yesterday in her 2008 Honda Accord. A man in a truck thought he was a a four way stop and pulled out in front of her. She hit him on the drivers side hard enough that the frame of the truck “veed” in the front of the car. She and her passenger were not seriously injured, just her legs from hitting the steering wheel (yes she was wearing a seat belt). The air bags did not deploy. I understand your comment about thresholds, but if there is that much damage to the car, surely the air bags should have deployed
On November 9, 2011 my wife was driving her 2004 Saturn ION in the slow lane of rush hour traffic. There was an accident 1/4 to 1/2 mile ahead. She was in a lane to exit the highway. She was driving slow with traffic. We do not know what her speed was. I can only assume she was driving below the speed threshold at the time.
The car was impacted from behind by a box truck. Her car was pushed forward and collided with other vehicles. The entire rear end was pushed into the back seat area. Picture an accordion folding up. The front end received heavy damage as well as the result of a secondary collision. The airbag did not deploy. The car was spun off to the side of the road.
She doesn’t remember much but a rear impact would force her back. The car would be accelerating at this point. The front collision resulted in her impacting the steering column. Support services had to pry her out of the car. She was transported to the hospital. Amazing to find no broken bones. She had her seat belt on. She is a petite woman and is in pain throughout her core. Immobilizing pain in the sternum and back. Pain and anti-inflammatory medication is currently being administered.
i was involed in a accident 27 oct 2011 i managed to avoid head on crash by swerving but my honda stream rolled down a embancment my front air bags never went off but after rolling 3 times my side bags should of went off,they did not,now i have read in the papers that honda are recalling there 2001 models,which mine was as the airbags are faulty,they say i have not got a claim,i paid for these airbags to protect me from a crash
I was involved in and accident a couple days ago and to avois hitting the car that pulled out infront of me I swerved and hit the brakes. I ended up crashing into a curb at about 40mph. my air bags did not deploy.
my 2005 ford f-150 was involved in a accident when i tryed to avoid hiting a deer , went into the medium and struck a power line pole and the airbags failed to deploy. i am suffering from the crash and seeing a doctor.
my partner of 14 years was in an accident with our 2007 cadilac cts and th air bags did not deploy and he past away. This is not right what are they there for if they dont work
I was in an accident that involved my 1995 Chrysler Concorde, which I hit an embankment, and the vehicle rolled atleast once. I was traveling between 50-55 mph on the interstate when this occured. The airbags effectively deployed, and my only injuries were from the burn on the tip of my nose where the airbag deployed (the heat tends to cause minor burns on the face),and a split lip. I was very content with how well the airbags worked.
On the flip side, I was in another accident with my 2001 Toyota Celica, which I was traveling about the same speed on a country road (in neither accident did I have time to brake)which was wet due to the rain. I initially hit a telephone pole, spun around in what was probably a 450, and my passenger side wrapped around a massive tree. I was not hurt in this accident, but I wasnt wearing my seatbelt, and my airbags never deployed. I thought that the reason the airbags never went off was bc I didnt have my seatbelt on. Now I think they just may have been defective. I think airbag deployment is hit or miss and never exact.
My 17 year old son was involved in an accident with my 2010 Camaro SS as he tried to avoid hitting a dog, he struck a tree as a side impact, tearing off the driver,s side door completely off the car, unsnapping the seat belts, as he injured his knees aand shoulter on impact. The side air bags never deployed.
I was in a car crash in my 2010 Honda Accord. The girl that hit me was not paying attention. She rear ended me going at least 40mph. She hit me so hard that I hit the truck in front of me and they almost hit the car in front of them. The whole front of my car is smashed in and the car is probably totaled. I understand what you wrote about the air bags not supposed to be deployed but when there is also another car involved does that change?
I hit a moose head on going 75 mph, destroyed the whole front end, the roof and the side window..ford taurus was a right off and airbags did not deploy!
Hi I was recently in a crash, in my 2009 Dodge Challenger that wasa equipped with side curtain airbags as well as conventional airbags,in which my vehicle spun sideways rolled and then flipped down a ditch and none of my airbags deployed and I cannot get a direct answer as to why. I’m constantly being told that maybe my vehicle didn’t hit right to cause deployment etc.
On July 4, 2012 I was turning into a shopping center; the woman ran the light and hit me on the front side f my Lexus ES 300. Thank God that I was able to hit my breaks because I my have lost my daughter if she was it full on. Needless to say this thought worried me more than the accident itself. Anyway, my car was hit so hard that I could not exit the drivers side; I climbed over. None of the airbags deployed. I have front and curtain airbags (front & back). Why didn’t they deploy? I was hit buy the BIG Lexus SUV; he was traveling 45-50MPH.
I was involved in a accident at 3am on 7/12/2012. I ran off the side of the road, hit a metal fense going 42 mph. At that time I knocked the fence dowm and hit another part of the fense. After hitting the fense for the second time I hit and knocked over a street sign. My car was totaled and my air bag never deployed. My my head hit the steering wheel and caused bleeding and swelling. I was driving a 04 Chevy Malibu.
My son was driving our Hummer2 2005 and crashed head on into a tree and his driver air bag did not deploy. He suffered a severe concussion, and had 21 stitches to his forehead. Speed was 35-40 mph
First of all thank you for helping. My wife and four year old daughter was in a car accident… 2009 corolla hits the dividers around 60 mph from left front (a direct hit), car spins and rolls over but no airbag deployed.. thank god they are not seriously injured, seat belts did a good job.
i have been in 2 crashes. My 1st in my fiat funto x reg. I was do 40mph and aquaplaned. Went up a curb and crashed into a ditch with a brick wall. My airbags did not go off. My second crash was last week in my suzuki grand vitara soft top. I was doing about 40mph and braked to avoid an animal in the road. My car swerved, i hit an embankement and my car rolled 3 times. It landed upside down in a hedge. Again none of my airbags went off. Thankfully seatbelts were worn. I cannot understand why even rolling my car 3 times they never went off. My car has shrunk in height due to that crash so surely they should have gone off to prevent being cut or squashed or other injury.