My six month old 2002 Audi A4 3.0L fully loaded to the brim was recently written-off after
having sustained severe frontal damage from a head-on collision with a concrete barrier, the
result of being rear-ended. Transport Canada has a recall (#2002221) which applies to the
2003 A4 model. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S. also has the same
recall on the 2003 A6 (#02V275000). There is also a Technical Service Bulletin for the 2002
A4 (#690201) issued Feb 2002 and titled "Deployed Air Bag-Repair Warning". There could be
other information I am not aware of as well. Here's the problem....the passenger side frontal
airbag deployed but not mine. I was the only one in the car. All emergency personal on site
expressed their disbelief when they saw the driver's side frontal airbag did not deploy and
said that this should not have occured and I should take it up with Audi. Audi customer
service was told of this 10 days ago and I am still waiting for a an explanation for such a
severe safety issue that appears not to be important to Mr. Len Hunt, VP of Audi USA and
their customer service department (800)822-2834. I only sustained minor injury this time and
perhaps I'm lucky the airbag didn't go off because it may have caused more injury BUT what
would have been the consequence in a more severe collision when I would have needed the
help of the airbag!!!?

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/53078/audi001.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/53078/audi002.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/53078/audi003.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/53078/audi004.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/53078/audi005.jpg">

by not coming out. you wernt hurt. audi and other companies have done extensive research in this area... and... in ur type of collisions decided that it is safer for the driver to not have his/her airbag deployed. its not just a single sensor in the bumper that deploys an airbag when its hit... there are acceleration sensors in the car and based on their data and the data of seatbelts it decides what will be safest for you...
if the collision were worse, the airbag would have deployed.

i dont mean to be an ass... but you've posted this on the other aw forums and its been explained.

but glad you're not hurt either way.

you'd figure the airbag would pop anyway just to avoid lawsuits. True, he almost surely would have been hurt more seriously by the airbag, but the airbag injuries are well documented and nearly impossible to hold automakers accountable for.