was hit on driver's side at a 45' angle by an old pontiac last night- other car was probably doing 50 before he jammed on brakes- skidded for about 4 seconds-driver had no license or insurance- pushed my driver's and passenger doors in about a foot-but driver's side air bag did not deploy! Called AoA this morning to express my dissatisfaction- Has anyone else heard of side air bag problems?<p>btw- dealer says car will not be totaled, even though bent in at bottom frame rail, etc- glad it's a lease!

I think this has been talked about before, but I don't remember us talking about side air bags not deploying. I remember Jason Teller had hit a deer with his A4...head on...or slightly to one side or another...and his front airbag did not deploy. Why do we have these things if they do not deploy? I remember several others mentioning that their airbags didn't deploy in moderate to serious accidents....what's the deal AoA or Audi AG? I don't know about you folks, but I want my airbag to deploy when I am in a head-on collision. <p>After watching that 48hrs or 60 minutes broadcast about the toddler getting decapitated, my kids never sit in the front seat, but should I care if these things don't deploy. How sensitive are these things?. One of my old clients made them for GM I think (IC Sensors), before they got bought. Hmmmmmm?<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM<br>

Been there. Done that. I've also been hit driver side 45 degree angle, etc. Very similar to your accident. My driverside air bag did not deploy either. I was wondering about that.....<p>On the bright side, my car was not totalled although I sure felt like it was. Smashed driver side door. Smashed pillar, partailly smashed driver side rear door. $7K worth of damage. End result ? AMAZING repair job done. REMARKABLE in fact. Aside form a LITTLE air flow noise at high speeds, not noticeable - including door opening and closing.<p> <br>

I was always led to believe that when one hits a deer or such an object that will not bring the car to a grinding halt, then the airbags are not supposed to go off. What I mean is that if you hit something large enough to cause damage but small enough to allow the car to keep driving, then it would be beneficial to still have the ability to hold the steering wheel and see out the windshield in order to keep the car under control.<p>As to the 45-degree business, I remember reading somewhere that although the airbag controllers contain *lots* of crash data, they are still missing quite a lot. I have heard that pole collisions wreak havoc on the sensors because so much of the crash force is directed into folding the front of the car around the pole thus confusing the sensors long enough to seriously delay airbag deployment.<p>All in all, no matter how much crash data is contained in the controllers, there are way too many real-world oddities to fully handle all of them.

If you were unbelted during the accident, the airbags might have gone off, no?<br>Dual threshold refers to the force of airbag deployment, but I could also see it related to deploy/no deploy issues.<p>Just a (semi-random) thought.<p>EricB<br>98 1.8TQMS

The '98+ Audis have several different thresholds programmed into the the pretensioiner and airbags. The theshold for deployment changes based on if your seat belt is buckled. If your seat belt is not buckled, it will also inflate at a faster rate(generation 1 speeds). If no one is in the passenger seat, it will not inflate at all.

Did you at least beat the crap out of the guy? JK<p>but seriously it irks me to find drivers without license and insurance because you know they will get away with not paying a thing to repair your car, nor will they go to jail. If they do get fined, they will ignore.<p>Good Luck

<br>nt

I have that when I see a Calif Highway Patrol car....its a reflex now....totally brain stem controlled.<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM<p>P.S. I actually have a family friend that was featured on 60 minutes. He just got out of incarceration.

<br>You seem to know everyone out there in the 'real world' as well :^)<p>I have the sense that you could tell some stories!<p>Todd W

I was rear-ended by a big pick-up truck recently. I was stationary on the left<br>lane in front of a traffic cone (the lane had abruptly ended because of construction) trying to merge back. This pick-up truck did not see me stopped<br>and just crashed into me. I could see the guy coming in the rear-view mirror<br>and I braced myself for the impact and the air bags exploding in my face.<br>Although the imapct was severe (the car has been in the shop for two months),<br>the air bags did not deploy. I was told by the body shop that airbags do not <br>deploy in a rear-end collision.<p>Any thoughts?<p><br>

Now, if the accident was last night, and you are talking about it here on the forum, it seems that you weren't seriously (at all?) injured in the crash. So why do you think the airbag should have gone off? Seems to me that since you came out alright without the airbag, you should be happy that it didn't explode in your face and stop you from steering, or scratch your eyeballs, or do whatever else they can do when they explode. Seems that it correctly didn't deploy. I don't want airbags going off on just any accident, I only want them going off when I would get hurt without them going off.<br>Its like in JETs accident. Sure, he slammed into a deer, but the force didn't hurt him, and so there is no reason to say the bag should have gone off. If the bag went off, he wouldn't have been able to steer safely, and he wouldn't have been able to drive after the crash (which if I remember correctly, he was able to).<br>Of course, this doesn't change that the sensors still may be too weak, but in all the examples I have heard, the only complaints have been "I got in a crash, and was ok, but just thought the bags would have gone off". Sadly, until they fail in a time when someone would have been saved by them, you can't say they aren't working. Hopefully that time won't come.

Hmm. Could you be talking about Hughes Aircraft, recently purchased by Raytheon? I work there, too, In El Segundo.

.......when I was T-boned. I was going foward so fast that the seat belt broke my left collarbone (clavicle). The side impact beams kept the offending car (Ford Escort wagon) 12 inches from me (but totally crushed the front passenger seat).<p>Early this year I was rear-ended in my A4 by an SUV. 7K of damage in the rear didn't cause the airbags to deploy. I'm glad they didn't deploy. I got off the road safely. I have no problems with Audi airbags!<p>Rick<br>

Sounds like only when you get a honkin big fron t end collision. <p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM<br>