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front end accident :(

kyleog17

Passed Driver's Ed
so 2 days ago i was going through a normal intersection, and as i was cruising through a green light, i just shifted into 3rd gear at about 25-30 mph, and an older man blew the red light and stopped dead in the middle of the intersection and i slammed him. i barely saw it coming and before i knew it the front end of my car was in his door. luckily, it was dead in front of where i work and all of my friends saw what happened.

his car door was completely destroyed and too my surprise my car wasnt that bad which was weird. but what im pretty pissed about is that my airbags didnt deploy. i slammed my head on the steering wheel real hard, and actually wound up breaking my left knee :(. ill post pictures when its not snowing anymore later.

now im wondering, why didnt my bags deploy? its kinda freaking me out that in a head on collision, that they didnt pop out. my bumper is coming off under the passenger headlight, and the lower grill by the fogs is completely smasked in, and it looks like someone took a hammer to the front of my bumper..am i missing something?
 

fatty@golfmk6.com

Go Kart Champion
call the dealer up or read the manual. i'm sure there is section in there talking about the air bag system. If you play your cards right you can get a brand new car with some extra cash to spend. Good luck!
 

kyleog17

Passed Driver's Ed
i go to the doctor on monday to see if i need surgery which means i am royally screwed. im gonna go to my dealer and see whats up cause im kinda pissed haha.
 

danielj1

Go Kart Champion
Airbags deploy based on the amount of force hitting the car and intrusion.

Based on your comment "too my surprise my car wasnt that bad" it doesn't sound like there was enough intrusion to deploy the bags. I'm surprised when people get annoyed or upset when airbags don't deploy. Its a violent experience when they do and can actually cause more harm if the accident isn't severe enough.

Sorry to hear about you breaking your knee, that blows. Hope you feel better soon.
 

Djunited1

Go Kart Champion
trust me you don't want your airbags deployed if the accident isnt that bad. my airbags in my previous car deployed when i hit a curb and burned my hand.no injuries from the accident itself.anyway glad it's nothing more than a broken knee.
 

kyleog17

Passed Driver's Ed
im just saying i hit him going a good 30 mph and i feel like i hit a brick wall. im not saying i wanted them to go off but when i slam my head and my neck is killing me it kinda sucks, but i get what your saying.
 

CodeB4U

Go Kart Champion
nope..never have goten into a car without a belt on. i have a bruise across my chest from it.

YYYEESSS that's awesome.



I wanna see the bruises
 

danielj1

Go Kart Champion
I think he's saying your seatbelt might not have been fitted properly. Either placed too high or too low.

I actually had a very similar accident 20 years ago in my old 87 GTI. Except I hit the drivers front drivers side tire at 40 mph. I had a bruise on my chest and have a scar on my knee to this day from where it broke through the dash.
 

tkksnow

New member
Similar thing occurred to me last month. Bought a 2011 GTI and went through an intersection at 25 in which some jerk took an unprotected left turn into oncoming traffic, thus I hit him. Airbags didn't go off either - my car wasn't totaled, but there was 12k damages (no structure or engine, I now have it back from the shop as good as new).

Far as what I know, airbags don't go off till about 40mph. Your head hitting the steering wheel, that should not have happened at all.
 

LittleJohny

Go Kart Champion
Airbags deploy based on the amount of force hitting the car and intrusion.

Based on your comment "too my surprise my car wasnt that bad" it doesn't sound like there was enough intrusion to deploy the bags. I'm surprised when people get annoyed or upset when airbags don't deploy. Its a violent experience when they do and can actually cause more harm if the accident isn't severe enough.

Sorry to hear about you breaking your knee, that blows. Hope you feel better soon.

Yup. If damage was so light on the outside of the car, it wouldn't make much sense for the airbag to deploy.

Far as what I know, airbags don't go off till about 40mph. Your head hitting the steering wheel, that should not have happened at all.

I'm just making an educated guess here, but I would think that what determines whether or not the airbag goes off is a matter of deceleration, not speed. So, it's not... hit anything at 40 mph and your airbags must deploy. It's also how the collision took place. Hitting a similarly sized car at 40 mph is much gentler than hitting a 60 foot trailer at 35 mph.


All this being said, OP, while I would bet money that the airbags were right to not deploy, something is wrong with the car if you managed to smash your head on the steering wheel. Now, something being wrong with the car doesn't necessarily mean it's the manufacturer's fault (so don't get all sue-happy). As previously mentioned, the seatbelt may have been positioned too high or something.
 

My2ndGTI

Ready to race!
Wishing your knee a speedy recovery. Glad it was not worse.
 

Doug F

New member
I had a GMC pickup, I hit ice on a bridge at 60 mph and went into a 8" x 8" wooden post. My airbags didn't go off either. I was told that it was because it was offset to one side of the bumper. Apparently GMC's have two metallic balls that have to roll forward at exactly the same time for the airbags to deploy. I wonder if VW has the same thing, you said that the bumper was hanging off on one side so maybe you took more of a hit on that side than in the center.

I keep the steering wheel of my GTI as far forward as I can. I try to have as much distance as comfortably possible between myself and the wheel / airbag. Sounds to me like your seatbelt didn't lock or was not fitted right.

It's a drag about your knee (and car), I hope you have a full recovery.
 
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