Volkswagen Golf MkV

[Yal]

So, i've got a Volkswagen Golf MkV that is now very badly thrashed. My wife was driving and some idiot in their mitsubishi lost control at 90, played bumper pool with the armco and eventually t-boned the Golf at about 70. This knocked the Golf sideways off the road and into a tree. Lots of damage to both sides, hood crumpled, some glass breakage.

Impact point was just behind the driver's door and the driver side passenger door, and then basically the same on the passenger side of the car (where it hit the tree). This car was moved the equivalent of two lanes sideways until the tree stopped it. My wife's just severely sore today and I'm going to get pics of the car later. Seems the car is safe. But one lingering question...

Why didn't ANY of the airbags deploy?



The worst thing is that we were planning a Zaino weekend in a week.

[WLH]

Good to hear that your wife was not seriously injured.

Front air bags will often not deploy in side impact, rear impact or a rollover. Air bags only deploy once and then deflate very quickly after the impact. The sensors can determine the direction of the crash and deploy those air bags where most needed and save the other air bags in the event that there is a secondary collision where the air bags might be better used.

[561design]

I've gotten into a serious accident with my old Jetta MKIV. I had a passenger side impact that pushed me across three lanes of impact. The passenger side airbags will not deploy unless someone is sitting in the seat. It knows this by the seatbelt being activated on that side. The driver's side airbag sensor is located in the door so it would not have activated either unless the impact was on the driver's side door.

I hope your wife get's better. I'm technically "disabled" due to the back injury I got from my accident.

[Wondermike]

Ouch. TBH I would have thought the side airbags would have deployed for certain in that situation - if not in that instance, then when??

Lucky she was OK.

[Rick Hunter]

Ow... sorry to hear of this incident, Yal. Hope she gets better soon.

[Yal]

Ow... sorry to hear of this incident, Yal. Hope she gets better soon.

She better, i'm getting tired of doing all the cooking!

Oddly enough, the good side is the one that got hit. The side that hit the tree is worse.