Side Impact Air Bags And Curtain

[Anatoli]

Has anyone experienced a collision where these side air bags/curtain have deployed or failed to deploy.

The reason I ask is that yesterday I was injured in a colision with my 05 Verso and the side bags and curtain failed to deploy.

I was crossing through traffic lights when a car travelling around 30-40 mph ran theough the red lights and hit me broadside in the centre of the car pushing in the doors and the momentum caused my head to bash against either the window or door pillar. It was quite a frightening thump which spun my car, the other car was so bad it had to be hauled onto a truck. It was one of the police officers who commented to me about the side air bags not deploying. I called Toyota Customer Service who tried to explain why these bags do not always activate but I refused to accept any of these 'get out' clauses. As far as I am concerned one of the reasons I chose this car (which I've had from new) was because of the safety features as I regularly carry young grandchildren. In this instance If either my 7yr old or 11 yr old graddaughters had been in the rear I am quite sure they would have sustaned serious head injuries by hitting the windows. Toyota are going to have their accident investigator sent up to inspect the car while it's in for repair but I'm sure they will try to get out of their responsibilities and fob me off with technical reasons.

I will never trust this car in the future. I will never be assured these bags will protect me or my passengers.

The only reason I wasn't hurt more is because I saw what was coming and braced myself but young children being unaware would have been thrown sideways and perhaps through the glass.

Feedback appreciated or even directed to somewhere else in this forum if you've read something similar.

[duncerduncs]

Sorry to hear about your accident. :(

There was a recall issued in 2006 for the RAV 4, Prius, Corolla Verso, Lexus GS300, Lexus IS250 and Lexus IS220d due to airbags not inflating during an accident. The VIN numbers of the affected vehicles are:-

JTHBH96S105020628 to JTHBH96S105020628

JHHBB262X02001344 to JHHBB262X02001344

NMTER16ROOR067698 to NMTER16ROOR067698

Link to the VOSA page is HERE

Hope that might help :)

[Anatoli]

My vin number isn't among them but it does show that there was a problem at one time and just because this was detected who's to say that there hasn't been a similar problem with another batch which slipped through undiscovered.

My car was recalled with the other problem in 2006 regarding the front passenger airbag.

[hertsnminds]

Sorry to hear about your accident, even though the curtain airbags did not deploy other safety features of the car (e.g. side impact bars in the doors) may have helped prevent more serious injuries.

Some links that list other cases (not just in Toyota's)

http://blog.airbagsolutions.com/archive/20...bag-deploy.aspx

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006...s_new_cars.html

http://www.suv-rollovers.com/rollover-airbag-injury.cfm

http://www.pre-hospitalcare.co.uk/road_tra...on/airbags.html

EuroNCAP had no problems when they tested the Verso

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/toyota_corol...o_2004/194.aspx

Here is the video of the NCAP Verso crash test

How fast were you travelling when your car was hit? The issue from reading some of the links above seems to be there are so many sensor criteria that have to be met before the airbags deploy that it may well be the case that they do not. It also seems that because in the early days of airbag installation there were a few cases of airbags deploying when they shouldn't manufacturers have made the conditions when they do deploy more specific.

The other problem is there is no real way to test an airbag without actually crashing your car so if there is a problem with the system that has not been reported to the cars ECU you won't know about it until it's too late.

[Anatoli]

Read through all these but I'm still confused.

I was travelling at no more than 15 mph while driving through traffic lights when the other driver drove through the red light on my left at what must have been about 40 mph and hit me centr on the rear passenger door. It was only because I was aware of what was about to happen that I braced myself and had I not then I reckon my head would have gone through my side window.

I am more concerned of the outcome had any of my granddaughters been in the rear seats as they normally are. By sitting relaxed they would most certainly have been forced sideways by the momentum with either one of them having their head forced through the window.

We buy these vehicles thinking we and our passengers are safe because we are told at the point of sale that these airbags will prevent us being hurt. This is what I find annoying and disturbing. Never mind all the technicalities, I expect these airbags to work in any violent collision.

I've also got the added annoyance that the other driver has no insurance, and what's more annoying is that the police didn't check this out at the time. Because I was being treated in the ambulance I had asked them if they would get the our driver's details for me but they didn't and just let her go because as far as they were concerned she admitted liability and claimed her documents were in order.

[*Rich*]

Hi, glad you are ok.

I saw a video on airbags and when they deploy, cant remember where, but it said the airbags dont always go off if they detect the impact isnt severe enough, as there is often a more severe impact, say the car being spun into a tree, and if the airbags have already been deployed they would then be useless.

Maybe try and find out from the police the estimated speed of the other car, as it is probable easy to overestimate as it is driving straight at you, and ask Toyota what sort of impact should set off the airbags?

[duncerduncs]

Just thinking about this a little more...

Did the car realise that you were the only one sitting in the car and therefore didn't fire the offside airbags?

Obviously the seats have sensors in them, so could it be possible?

[Jamesbelfast]

Secondary Restraint Sytems (SRS)such as air-bags, etc are not designed to protect children especially curtain bags as they will normally be above the childrens height and in many cases can make matters worse for small bodies.

The SRS system works on the basis of an accelerometer acting above a pre-determined G-force. The forces generated in an accident do not always act in a straight line as in this case were the vehicle being struck was moving forwards. One other possibility should the vehicle being struck was forced sideways during a side impact then some of the forces will be lost. It is not uncommon for air-bags not to deploy during roll-over incidents as the G-forces never reach the levels required to activate the system.

As the name implies SRS systems are meant to be supplementary to the normal seat-belt restraints.

In my opinion the effectiveness of SRS sytsems fitted to modern cars are very much over estimated and are touted by many manufacturers as the holy grail when in fact they have limitations which should be clearly explained to the buyer at time of purchase.

If occupants of he car are restrained in approved seat belts and seats they are very, very unlikely to be ejected from a vehicle during even the most serious crash. That's why the law for childrens seating and seat belts was updated fairly recently.

It's good to see in this case the driver survived relatively unscathed from what could have been a critical incident and some ways thus proves the car was able to protect its occupant. I am not defending car manufacturers in any way but we should be realistic of what we expect of safety devices but I feel the general public may have been mislaid with all the manufacturers hype when it comes to sales.:)

[Anatoli]

Thanks for your comments so far.

As for the childrens sizes, my eleven year old granddaughter is 5' 3" tall so her size is typical of a small woman, my seven year old sits in a booster bringinger her to adult height.

As for seat belts, these restrain in the forward motion but there is quite a fair amount of free sideways movement. Remember that my upper body and head went from left to right with such force that I am told it bounced of the door pillar and window. Apart from the big lump on my head I have just been informed that the x-rays show I have damaged the bones in my neck.

I had initially said the other car was doing about 30-40 mph as I didn't want to exaggerate the scenario but I am finding out from others that this car was in fact 'racing' along the road before it hit me and possibly travelling very much faster.

There are no sensors in the rear seats just the front passenger seat.