When should the Airbag work

[utmad]

Hi All,

I recenlty had someone pull out straight in front of my new A4 Avant (B8) and ruined it, after only having it 3 months mind you I hit the side of his car so his came off worst. What bothers me though is that my airbag did not go off, I was only doing about 25 but it was a heavy impact but nothing. Does anyone know what the requirements are for the airbag to operate.

Cheers

[bluestar_ale]

I hit a post van once, it was in a Passat estate, at about 70mph, .........the airbag went off then........

[mkc]

Airbags use a whole host of things to trigger them, speed, angle of impact, if you apply the brake, wheel speed sensors etc. The take all these readings and calulate if they should deploy or not in the ACU.

You may have felt that they should have gone off. But your driving conditions, speed, how you quickly you braked (if at all) etc suggested they should not. No idea how the math is calculated on a deployment or not!

Many insurance companies write cars off if the airbag has been deployed due to the mess it makes of the dash, the powder, explosives, cost of putting new ones in etc and when combined with any external damage they write the car off. I very much suspect your impact required a few new panels and some paint so lucky they didnt deploy at such a low speed. The seat belts would do their job at that low speed. Luckily you are ok and I hope the car is back on the road.

Thats two we have heard of now with accidents in the first few months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag#How_air_bags_work

[kodkod.84]

Did he not see your LED DRLs- or have you got SE spec? :(

[utmad]

Thankyou for your reply and your concern. Yes I am ok now aches and pains but Im getting there. They are repairing it, its had new wings, bonnet, grill, lights radiator that I know of. Cant wait to get it back as I loved it mind you I had done 10,000 miles in it in 3 months sice its arrival.

Your answer makes good sense and maybe it is good it dont not go off as like you say it would wreck the inside.





Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDI SE in Garnet Red

[utmad]

Did he not see your LED DRLs- or have you got SE spec? :(


Its the SE so not quite as nice and bright but he still must have been blind !!

[B8 TDI]

:( Getting your car smashed sucks, sorry to hear it, as for the airbags, if they deploy during low speed impacts, they may actually increase the chance of injury.

That is why they are programmed to only deploy under very specific conditions