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.
I was in a car accident on May 26, 2009. I was driving about 65 mph on the freeway when a car cut me off and as I attempted to move away, my 2009 camry lost control. After swaying back and forth a few times, I went head on to the center divider and bounced off and hit again with the rear and then the front side. The car was practically hit on every side but none of the air bags deployed. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance but was determined to be okay, I just have lots of pain throughout my body. The insurance company determined the car totaled.
Recently, I was in an accident with my brand new Chevrolet Traverse (09), that I had just bought.
I had been sitting at a red light, waiting for a turn signal, when I finally got one, I lifted my foot off the brake, and hadn’t really had time to put my foot on the gas pedal, when out of the left side corner of my eyesight, I saw something coming at me, which I hardly had time to react, due to the fact the individual was doing between 50 and 60 mph (which he said, at that time of day, the sun had him sorta blinded, but also said he thought he had the green light!), anyway, I had about a split second to do half a prayer of hoping he’d swerve and miss me, but not! BAM, right just a fraction above the left side of the front wheel, on the drivers side.
Needless to say, by the time I stopped after being hit, I was turned around over a quarter of a degree. At the time, I hadn’t even realized just how hard my shoulder hit the door frame. I was so stunned I guess, I sat there for almost 20-30 seconds before I got out, which at the same time, the other gentleman did also. All I could do was look at him and say, I HAD THE GREEN LIGHT! He just looked at me. I was shaking so bad, thinking that this guy had hit me, and now probably was going to blame it on me. So I walked around towards the back of my vehicle, to the lady in the vehicle sitting beside me, and before I could say anything, she stated, I saw the whole thing, YOU had the green light. He was given a citation for careless driving, with the cop also telling him if he wished to protest it before a judge, they look less favorably on people running redlights.
Needless to say, that being a Wednesday, I didn’t actually start feeling all the soreness till the weekend, so I was able to see my orthopedic doctor on Tuesday of the following week, with x-rays, nothing broken, nor out of place he said, but I had some pretty good contusions.
My problem with the whole thing is….NO airbags went off, side nor front (with 24 sensors), NOR did On-Star come on, SO much for that safety feature.
I contacted Chevrolet to let them know, and yes, they sent an individual to do the reading on the “black-box”, and you guessed it, supposedly according to the lawyer, everything worked fine.
I didn’t like it, told him in so many words, asked him to send me a copy of the report, which he did.
To be hit this hard, 50-60 mph, where I was, I don’t see how either the air-bags (especially the side one) nor the on-star didn’t come on.
Lost!
Generally, if the deployment threshold is crossed, the front air bags should deploy in frontal collisions, side air bags (including side curtain air bags) in side impact collisions, and rollover air bags in rollover collisions.
Whether the deployment threshold was crossed and whether the air bags should have deployed in a particular accident will depend on the speeds of the vehicles involved, the angle of impact, the geometry (size and shape) of the vehicles, the stiffness of your car (which depends on where your car was hit), the stiffness of the other car, and other factors. Unfortunately, a defect in the air bag system can prevent an air bag from deploying when it should deploy.
As far as On-Star, GM advertises that they will be notified, but the fine print usually indicates that they are notified only if the air bags deploy. So, you may be out of luck when your air bags fail to deploy, regardless of whether they should have deployed or not!
An initial assessment of whether an air bag should have deployed in your case can be conducted by reviewing photographs of the accident damage and the police report. Additional information that would be helpful in this case is the download report from the air bag system’s black box (which GM calls SDM for Sensing and Diagnostic Module). If you would like to send those to me via mail, fax or email, I would be happy to review these for you, in light of my 20 years of air bag experience. And, there is never a charge for my preliminary assessment.
Hi…I am so glad I found your site! My daughter crashed my 2004 Honda Accord. She was traveling about 50 mph (slowing due to a speed limit change from 55 to 45) when the vehicle (Honda Ridgeline) came to a complete stop due to noticing a school bus stopped in the lane beside them. My daughter could not stop and crashed into the rear-end of the truck. The driver airbag did not deploy. She was not hurt, just bruised and sore. However, the damage to the front-end of the car was so extensive that the insurance company has deemed it a “total loss”. The seat belt is “stuck” in the extended position and no longer works….but the airbag did not deploy! Of course the car was not driveable and had to be towed off. Both fenders are crushed, the entire front end is crushed, all front end lights, hood is crumpled, passenger door will not open due to fender being pushed back, radiator & battery crushed, seat belt broken.
I hit a tree head on in a 08 E150 Ford Van. I was doing around 35-40. I was trying to dodge a deer and lost it. But anyways the bags never came out and the whole front of the van it done, around $7600 worth of damge.
Our 2006 Toyota Highlander was involved in a frontal collision with a moose at 40mph, very much different than a deer. The average deer weighs 150 lbs. The average moose weighs 800 to 1200 lbs. There was substantial damage to the driver’s side front of the vehicle. The airbags did not deploy. I have to believe the deployment threshold was crossed.
i was driving down a fairly deserted road at night, lost control around a corner and was unable to regain control because i had overcompensated. i ended up flipping my car several times, i was going about 75 mph when i lost control and the officer on scene said that i was probably going at least 50mph when i flipped the car. my airbag system did not deploy but the officer says that he was able to smell the discharge system. i had an ‘04 Saturn Vue. should my airbags have deployed?
I was in an accident in which 2 people in my vehicle were injured.The air bags did not deploy.this was in a 2000 saturn sedan. the seat belts did not work right either.As a result My wife and daughter were severly injured.I had rear ended a car at about 22MPH,causing a 3car incedent.I will never trust Air Bags again.This was my first auto accident. I am 68 years old .Been driving since I was 15.I will never Buy another G.M.Product
I was in a crash yesterday on the freeway. my car hit head-on into cement median. The airbag did not deploy. I have a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. Following the accident a service notice appeared (Service Airbag) which was not present prior to crash. I was sent to hospital due to pain in my chest and ribs.
I was in an accident 2 days ago where my car was demolished. The passenger front “side” of the car had hardly been hit. The car was involved in a roll over as well as hitting a tree. I was driving the highway at 110kms and flew off of the road, over a cliff into some trees then landed on the side of the cliff and rolled over twice to the bottom of the cliff. The front of the vehicle is trashed. The drivers airbag deployed but the passenger airbag did not.
I was in a accident with my dodge ram truck, I lost control while hydroplaning. I then struck a small tree which completely knocked it down, I then it a much bigger tree. My trucks front in is now shaped in a v shape. I hit hard enough that my truck bounced back I was doing an estimate of 30-35 mph. It hit hard enough that my chest hit the steering wheel, messed up the muscles in neck and lower back. My airbags failed to deploy. The state trooper questioned and said they should have, What is my course of action. My truck is totaled, and I am in alot of pain, I am in process of calling Dodge and seeing what will come of it.
My girlfrind was in a wreck last night in her 2004 VW passat, another driver ran a stop sign and then stopped partially into the insection, before she could react her car hit the honda CRV on the drivers side rear passenger door/wheel area and smashed up her car extensivly (bumper cover came off, hood wrinkled to half it’s length, headlights smashed, and so on), but the weird thing is that the UNOCCUPIED passengers side airbag deployed but not the drivers!?!
She was wearing her seat belt at the time of the accident and she hit the other car with enough force to spin it around 180 degrees and bring her car to a dead stop from about 30-35mph.
2wks ago my daughter and I were in an accident on the highway I hit the guard rail 3 different times drivers front side, passengers back(gas tank- where my daughter was in her car seat) and bumper front and side airbags did not deploy the car was deemed totalled because the front frame was bent(bumper and left side light were completely off). 2007 Saturn Ion.
I was in an accident in December, 14638 in damages. Hit from behind in my 2008 Toyota Rav4, and pushed into a truck. Other driver told police he saw I was stopped but he looked down and accelerated into me at about 45 miles an hour. He said “I couldn’t make myself hit the break”. Anyway, none of my airbags deployed. When the body shop finished the repairs (yes repaired), the airbag light was not going off and Toyota told them it was jammed and that was why it didn’t deploy. i have a concussion, neck and back injuries and now horrible headaches, etc.
I was a passenger in an accident a month ago. The driver missed a sharp curve and ended up in a ditch. He was traveling at a pretty good speed and attempted to brake but not in time. I was thrown frontwards – I suffered a mildly dislocated sternum, several broken ribs and have sciatica in my back and left leg, also pulled muscles in my right arm from trying to brace myself when it became evident that we were going to wreck. The air bags did not deploy. He was driving a 2006 Taurus. I suffer great pain and have been pretty much confined to my house since the accident.
My 2008 Toyota Prius with front and side airbags was hit in the front drivers side of vehicle. The car was hit head on from where the door ends to the front of the car going aprox- 55 mph. My car was stationary. My car is totaled and the side or font airbag did not deploy resulting in my head striking the drivers side window. Major concussion.