Auris Excel Hybrid Meets It's Maker - Warning

[ToyotaAurisHybrid]

I'm sorry to say our auris excel hybrid was written off last week....single car accident, no one hurt.

Just a word of warning for owners.

Despite a heavy impact front end crash, none of the airbags deployed and just as worryingly, the seatbelt didn't retract. Mentioned it to the accident repair centre but heard nothing back.

We won't be getting another Toyota, so just thought best to mention it so people are aware and can ask for these things to be checked under warranty

[stompe]

Hiya David

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hopefully Toyota will inspect your car and report back to you. Its very worrying that nothing deployed

[barrycoll]

It would be very interesting to know the development of the situation that caused such a terminal result?

If the air bags did not activate, nor the seat bags pre-tension, was anybody hurt???

[Phil_1985]

Are you injured? Airbags only go off for a reason as they can injure as well as save lives...

Bruises, burns, broken bones in the hands and eye injuries from wearing glasses are all common injuries from airbag deployment.

[Joseph D]

... If the air bags did not activate, nor the seat bags pre-tension, was anybody hurt???

The OP did state in the opening post that no one was hurt. Whether that means no one was hurt badly or no one was hurt at all, I don't know.

[PeteB]

Hi David

I'm also sorry to hear of your misfortune, but glad no one was hurt.

I can sympathize because my first Prius was written off (just 6 months after I got it) when someone went through a red traffic light and I hit him at 40 mph.

My airbags and seatbelt pretensioners also did not deploy, and many people asked me if I was worried about this. Now I am certain that a crash like this in any of the first five cars I owned in the 1970s (first two of which were made in the 1960s) would have killed me instantly, but I walked out of the Prius completely unscathed.

Was I worried? Hell no! The fact that I was uninjured shows they made the right decision. Both safety features can have undesirable side effects (burns and quite severe bruising, even the odd broken bone) but when needed are vastly preferable to not having them BUT you really don't want to experience them unless absolutely necessary.

I was tremendously reassured by the experience (and also a severe side impact in my previous Yaris, which I'm also sure would have been much more serious in the aforementioned five cars) and actually called the dealer to order a replacement whilst still sitting in the wreckage waiting for a crane to lift it off the island it had landed upon!

Regards, PeteB

[PeteB]

This is what my first Prius looked like last time I saw it!

[FROSTYBALLS]

As far as I'm aware, the Supplementary Restraint System (SRS) (eg. airbags, pre-tensioned seat belts) operate as a secondary system to the vehicle's structure - which has deformable areas, etc designed to crumple first before other measures come into play. The SRS will only operate if certain criteria are met - deceleration above a certain level, area of impact, etc.

Airbags and pre-tensioned seat belts themselves can cause injury - burns, etc - so one wouldn't want them going off unless they need to.

[ToyotaAurisHybrid]

Thanks for the replies. It was my wife driving and she has no injuries at all, thank god.

She left the road on a bend, managed to miss a lamppost, but in the process swerved back across both lanes and into a combination of a very old crash barrier and a tree. Speed at impact was around 30mph but the whole front of the car caved in; to the point where it restricted her ability to open the doors.

When I arrived I had a good look and the cabin was fully intact, so the crumple zones clearly did their job. We were just both astounded no airbags or seatbelt recoil occurred. I appreciate your points that it may have saved her from injury; it just shook our confidence somewhat.

Well, we had the car for just over a year and 17k miles and had issue free motoring during that time. We were fortunate not to encounter Battery issues others have had and will miss the car; even though it was leased through work.

[Aceshigh84]

Gutted for you (and the car) and glad that no one's hurt.

Since everyone is ok, and there have been good explanations of why / why not the airbags didn't off, let's get onto important stuff...

What are you getting next?!

[ToyotaAurisHybrid]

We're going back to the car we had previously, but the new one, the Nissan Qashqai.

My wife's choice, but as it'll be her daily drive, one I'm happy to endorse

[Parts-King]

Glad your wife was not badly injured

I see and hear this all the time. The SRS system as said previously, will not deploy unless a specific set of objectives are met, this will be the same for all manufacturers. In fact you don't particularly want air bags and pre-tensioners to go off, they very often save lives, but they do not stop causing their own injuries such as minor burns and abrasions. The noise / smoke / dust caused is horrendous Glancing blows, large skids etc will not set off an air bag, generally speaking, they only work on moderate to severe impacts and it is not the speed you hit something but the amount of deceleration that occurs

Kingo

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The main thing is you're here to tell the tale

The fact that the airbags didn't go off and you're here talking on a forum so soon after the accident is why they didn't go off.

As others have said airbags are a last chance. You really don't want them going off unless they absolutely, totally have to. They're like being punched in the face very very hard by a bare knuckle cage fighter! The can, and often will break your nose. They're to stop your face smashing to pieces on the steering wheel, not to just fire willy nilly in any hard front end accident. They're meant for the sort of accident where you'd be in a coma for weeks if you didn't have one. Or where your legs will be broken in a few places and your feet pointing the wrong direction when the airbags do go off.

Can you still talk? Can you still eat? Did you lose any teeth? If the answer is yes to the first two and no to the last, then you didn't need an airbag.

The car did it's job. You're here.

[barrycoll]

one good reason for shuffling the steering wheel with a pull-push technique, is avoiding the situation of allowing one arm crossing over, beyond the 12 o'clock position, especially when getting into a situation as described above by the OP

...

.....if the lamppost had been hit, and the airbag deployed, then a broken arm would have resulted

(can't resist being an IAM bore I am afraid)

[PeteB]

...

.....if the lamppost had been hit, and the airbag deployed, then a broken arm would have resulted

(can't resist being an IAM bore I am afraid)

not to mention what damage an arm propelled at speed into ones face might do...

from a RoSPA bore (who's just taken his 3-yearly compulsory re-test!)

[Cyker]

When you say the pre-tensioner didn't fire, did the seat belt at least lock up??

I'm not so worried about the air bag and pre-tensioner not going off as you need to stop REALLY suddenly for those to trigger; Just crashing into stuff, esp. if you plough through the thing you're crashing into, generally isn't enough to set them off (e.g. crashing into a wooden fence or metal railings probably won't set them off because you'll probably go right through them, but crashing into a concrete block or brick wall probably will!).

But the seatbelt lockup should have triggered!

[FROSTYBALLS]

The pre-tensioner pulls the seat belt tight - effectively retracting the seat belt webbing. Think it was this that the OP was referring to.

[IanIanIanIan]

That is odd. On my skid control course at Bracknell I was told to not let go of the steering wheel and cross arms during a skid or whilst having an accident as shuffling cost milliseconds in response time, meant that you always knew where wheels straight ahead was and limited over responding i.e. you could only turn the wheel so far as the arms would block wheel movement over 180º.

Car safety had improved so much of late. Many people now walk away from accidents that would have killed them outright just a few years ago. I often wonder what we will be seeing in 20 or 50 years.

Setting the drivers seat so that the legs are slightly bent at the knee whilst the brake pedal is fully pressed does mean that should the bulkhead be moved back the shock will tend to bend the leg instead of projecting up a straight, locked leg into the pelvis possibly breaking the hip joint in one way or another, often a life threatening injury.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Just contradictory schools of thought - both with plus and minus points.