replacing/repairing air bag mechanism
 

an actual event:

an 2003 hyundai accent was broken into, and the (apparent) crackhead s.o.b.
ripped-out the radio

in doing so, approximately 2-3 thousand dollars of damage was done to the dash
board (i am not exaggerating)

very fortunately, insurance paid everything beyond the $100 deductible

but, apparently, the front airbag did not automatically release/inflate when
the car was subsequently hit (fairly hard, 25 mph) on the front corner (near
the passenger side headlight, but at an angle)

please comment/hypothesize/guess/speculate about why the air bag didn't
work/inflate/come-out when car was hit

b-t-w: the side bag also didn't work/inflate

thanks for your valuable time

Re: replacing/repairing air bag mechanism
 

Robert Cohen wrote:
> an actual event:
>
> an 2003 hyundai accent was broken into, and the (apparent) crackhead s.o.b.
> ripped-out the radio
>
> in doing so, approximately 2-3 thousand dollars of damage was done to the dash
> board (i am not exaggerating)
>
> very fortunately, insurance paid everything beyond the $100 deductible
>
> but, apparently, the front airbag did not automatically release/inflate when
> the car was subsequently hit (fairly hard, 25 mph) on the front corner (near
> the passenger side headlight, but at an angle)
>
> please comment/hypothesize/guess/speculate about why the air bag didn't
> work/inflate/come-out when car was hit
>
> b-t-w: the side bag also didn't work/inflate
>
> thanks for your valuable time
>
>
I'm sure you will get more informed opinions then mine but anyway..
I do not know if this is even possible but someone needs to figure out
why it did not go off, is there a problem related to the dash being
ripped out and replaced or does the problem lie elsewhere. On that note...
The airbag system is a very redundant and system mostly seperated from
from the rest of the cars electronics. The computer system for the air
bag detects many problems that would prevent the firing of an airbag and
checks almost every part of the system. The air bag system should have
reported to you a problem via the dash light. Do you remember always
seeing the airbag light on startup of the car prior to the crash?
This should provide indication that the airbag system is working and
there was no problems found. Not seeing the light at all would indicate
the light did not work (or was disconnected or never reconnected) and no
one actually knows what the status of the airbag system. Every car I
have, the airbag light stays on longer then the check engine light when
the car is started. A previous car of mine had an airbag light flashing
and failed the state inspection. I got it fixed and on my state
reinspection, the technician specifically stated that he looked for that
difference in light timing because some people will try to either
disconnect the air bag light or hardwire it to the check engine light to
prevent actually fixing the problem, considering I paid over $500 to get
air bag computer replaced to fix the problem, I can see why. He may
have been just talking out his ass but it did make sense.

I have no idea what actual conditions would trigger the airbag system
providing it was working correctly and I do not think anyone here could
make that determination with the only fact given being ~25MPH for the
impact. You'd think it would.

Re: replacing/repairing air bag mechanism
 

Direction and type of impact also play a role. The air bag computer
measures center of vehicle front direction deceleration only. From what's
been described thus far, I'm not convinced the air bag should have
deployed. If the light goes through its self check and then goes out,
it's very unlikely anyone will find any problem with the system.

Re: replacing/repairing air bag mechanism
 

I originally didn't think your vehicle had side air bags but now see this
is possible depending on time of production. If the car has side air bags
it also has satellite sensors near each b-pillar to measure lateral
deceleration. Similar to the dash air bags, whether these deploy is
dependent on direction of collision and the deceleration measured at the
sensor.