C6-er

Thats the answer I was looking for. Thanks

trivette

My wife had her Caddy SRX totalled this Spring after getting hit in the drivers' door and then rolling over. No side airbags went off in her case, either. It was a glancing blow from a car that crossed over the centerline after being hit by another. She is still suffering from whiplash, but the airbag deployment might've caused additional injuries.

C6-er

I did not take any pictures and I'm not sure I want any to remind me of this.

Kerry G

shopdog knows his stuff.

wayback

Glad you are OK.

Seems like shopdog is correct. The air bags might have done more damage and the system did not react in order to avoid additional damage to you and the car.

Make sure the Ins co looks for all damage.

_Will_

You want a new one!!! There is almost no way that car will ever drive right again from the damage you described. You paid a lot of money for that car and insurance, you don't want to get stuck with a lemon.

jvesalga

Well this sucks, sorry to hear about the accident, but I'm glad you are sort of Okay. Don't know how bad the damage is (sounds rather significant) but I sure would push the other insurance carrier for a new car if you only have 3 wheels. The car/frame may never be right if it is fixed.

Alright F' it, I would insist on a new car. If they weld the tire back on to the car you will be subject to many years of nonsense trying to make the car right.

As far as the air bag, hmmmm. You mentioned the rear quarter took the impact, I have a feeling the air bag does not inflate from the seat unless the door is hit. My 2 cents, dunno, I will have to go back and read what everyone else wrote you.

Braumeister

Glad you are OK...Pete

dbradley

Some policies, mine included, will provide a new replacement up to so many miles / months. I've had two carriers on mine and both had/have this coverage. You didn't say mileage but it might be worth a read of your policy.

bolivar

If this had happened to me personally, I would file a report with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration here:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

I know a lot of people don't agree with the government involvement in our autos. But, there are times that serious things are wrong with the design and/or manufactoring components of autos, and government involvement is the only thing that will have improvements made.

Especially if a safety part is involved, I would make a report.

I would think a 40mph impact on the side of a car, one strong enough to severely damage the suspension, would be enough to trigger a side air bag. If this impact was made directly into the door area, with a vehicle that had a high bumper, i.e. a truck, even with air bat deployment, a driver would probably suffer severe injury.

This site can also be queried for recalls. You can read reports for specific vehicles also. If you look at specific vehicles, many times you can see many reports for the same failure, then there will be the recall for the problem. To me, this indicates this system is working.

It is probably not the best one that could be developed to have manufactors respond to problems, but the system does work.

ilkhan

Considering the guy escaped without major injury, Id agree with the consensus here. The bag NOT going off is a good thing. With as much money as the auto companies are forced to spend on dev and testing of the safety systems, it sounds like the bag did exactly what was expected of it. Nothing.

Glad the OP is unharmed. And also as above, that kind of suspension damage should result in frame damage. While the frame on the C5 and C6 very strong, it is also dependant on very tight tolerances. Push very hard for a replacement, not repair if you value your future safety.

gota07

In your particular case it may have been to your benefit that the side air bag didn't deploy, but that doesn't really answer the question of whether it should have or not. If it were me, I would see if the NHTSA site would allow you to ask the question of what the actual standards are for the forces required to trigger the side air bag deployment and then compare that info to your own event to get a feel if the system did operate within the required parameters. Only then will you really know if filing a complaint with the NHTSA and or GM is in order.

Best of luck getting your Vette (or a new one) back in service and getting over the jolts.

Skunkworks

Lateral impacts are tricky to say the least. Getting clipped in the rear and getting T-boned in door are two completely different impacts.

Ask me how I know . Been there done that...

As mentioned air bags can be very violent and you do not want to be hugging one unless absolutely necessary. Sounds like everything worked correctly and glad you walked away.

I wouldn't spend too much time asking why side air bags did not deploy... we simply don't know to what forces they are calibrated to.


Mike

LTC Z06

From what I've read it takes a door impact to set off some side airbags. I just read that one manufacturer is going to use an air overpressure sensor in the doors to trigger the side impact bags.

Skunkworks

I know a trial attorney that sued and got a substantial settlement from FORD on a false air bag deployment suit... I can't get into specifics but sensor(s) calibrations are kept from general public and good luck getting anything close to actual spec.

A data logger or black box is in each car and just the software to upload info very tightly controlled. It's just like most cell phones track us even though you turn it off (without removing battery). Now I'm not a conspiracy nut, but I would be surprised if anyone of us non-GM insiders could even come close to getting actual calibrations and point of impact data required to activate air bag... look at all the baby warnings for passenger side air bag.

Again glad person is doing fine.


Mike

Atomic Punk

damn dude. glad ya'll were ok. even the kid. sorry 'bout the car.

shopdog

Actually, some of us do, sort of. The exact algorithms used to determine when the bag must deploy are proprietary, and often unique to a particular vehicle because the vehicle's weight, structure, crush allowances, etc are specific to that particular vehicle model. They are designed to prevent bag deployment when it would not be helpful. But there is some guidance. The side bag must trigger under an acceleration of 300 Gs over a duration of at least 5 milliseconds. It can't be much less, or the bag would trigger when the door is slammed. The trigger acceleration is approximately the acceleration the sensor would experience if a 4,000 pound vehicle squarely strikes the door of a 3200 pound vehicle containing the sensor at a speed of 25 MPH. (Note this is higher than the speed at which a frontal airbag would trigger, which would be approximately 13 MPH for the same vehicles.)

At 25 MPH, the alien vehicle is penetrating the struck vehicle at an initial rate of 0.44 inch per millisecond, or 2.2 inches in 5 milliseconds if not retarded by energy absorbing structures. The bag then triggers and fully inflates in 50 milliseconds. (The bag surface moves at 220 MPH while inflating and can cause friction burns. It is also very loud, about 175 dBA, which can cause permanent hearing damage.)

If the vehicle's structure weren't rapidly decelerating the alien penetration (both by slowing the impacting vehicle and by accelerating the entire struck car sideways), the alien vehicle would have penetrated the side of the car by 22 inches by the time the bag finished inflating. But the steel door beam, coupled to the strong firewall and hoop bulkheads, does slow the penetration sufficiently for the bag to inflate while it can still do some good.

Lots of effort goes into making sure the side bags don't deploy when they won't be helpful. They shouldn't deploy in a rollover, frontal or rear impact, or glancing side impact. They should only deploy when they would do more good than harm. (Admittedly a judgement call, hence the proprietary algorithms.)

john5

i never new we had side air bags.were are they .

BlackZ51Vett

Glad your ok. Lets get you back behind the wheel of a another Vette soon !!!!

SimonStern

2LT and 3LT (and now 4LT) cars have them inside the seat. Look at the outside of the outer side bolster.