Non-SVX: Airbags deployed.
 

I was driving my wife's Outback on Saturday when a 17-year-old kid blew right through a stop sign and t-boned us at maybe 30mph. Everybody's okay, but the car is in pretty rough shape. We spun 180 degrees and nearly rolled. The left wheels have scratches all the way around from digging into the road. I drove it home, but there is (I believe) structural damage in front of the right rear wheel.

The right curtain airbag went off, and of course the airbag light on the dash is on. I drove the car, and it's fine aside from the bad visibility out of the right side, but I'm curious whether the rest of the airbags are now compromised. If I was driving it to a shop for an estimate and involved in a big frontal impact, would the fronts deploy, for instance?

I'm also interested to know why the front right seat bag didn't deploy. How does the car determine which side airbags to fire? Can it detect the severity of the impact, or does it detect the location of the impact front to rear?

Please don't guess; I'm looking for actual information.

Again, everybody's okay. My wife was in the left rear seat, but was hit in the head by a 55-gallon aquarium that we had just bought two blocks away. The aquarium did not break, but if we had rolled things might have been different. The airbag definitely kept my father-in-law from hitting his head on the side window.

I don't know how the air bags work, but am very glad to hear everyone is OK. :eek: What about the others in the other car? :o

Thanks, Earl.

The kid in the other car was fine, but I'm not so sure he was when his parents took him home. His dad was...not happy. Both of his parents came over to apologize for their son's mistake and make sure we were okay.

I know the kid wasn't paying attention; that's the only way he missed that stop sign. It wasn't compromised or obscured in any way. I don't know what he was paying attention to, but it wasn't the road.

He was driving a 2001 Camry; I think it was probably totaled.

The seat air bags sense if someone is in the seat and don't fire if nobody is in the seat, same with the passenger side airbags. Not sure about the side curtain air bags, I think those blow no matter what but not positive. The computer fires the bags that it thinks that it needs to fire, the air bag light is on due to the curtain bag being blown.

You'll need to have a Subaru dealer check the SRS system to make sure the sensors and such are still functioning. I remember when I set the air bags off on mom n dad's 93 Sable (Sables do not jump ditches, nor do they take 10 MPH corners at 40) the dealer had to replace both bags (duh) as well as the computer and the air bag sensors. I'd get it checked ASAP, I don't know if it'll still fire the front bags or if since the side bag is blown, and the light is on, if the system shuts down, but the dealer will be able to tell you.

For each airbag there are two pairs of acceleration sensors:
- 2 sensors in the control module
- 2 sensors on the perimeter (quarter panels)
In order for an airbag to deploy at least 1 sensor of each pair has to signal.
This is done intentionally - two are used to avoid false triggering if one of the sensors gives a false signal, and to trigger in an accident if one of the sensors malfunctions and does not signal at all.

The sensors are effectively weights on a spring. They are cylindrical objects rolled in a spring roll. If acceleration is above the threshold, the spring unrolls.

They are one-shot; the spring is not designed to return back to the original position. It means that after an airbag fired, all sensors and the airbag control unit have to be replaced ($$$).

Whether the forward airbags will still work after a lateral one has deployed - they may not and you don't want them to.
The control unit will fail self-check at power up and may go into failure lockout (to prevent accidental firing). In any case the remaining sensors may have partially unwound and be very close to triggering the front airbags on a small bump.

Nick,

Glad you and everyone is OK. Best of luck getting the the repairs/replacement.

Excellent info, thank you very much. I'm not exactly concerned about the expense, because the kid's insurance company is taking care of it all. It was his fault.

Looking at the estimate, the airbag parts are expensive, and I noticed they are replacing the controller and all sensors.

It looks like we'll have a two-week wait for the shop that we want to do the work. I think they're worth that wait, and in the meantime the kid's insurance company will pay for a rental while we wait. We're going to have that rental for at least six weeks - the shop estimated 18 days for repair, but of course it'll take longer. That's too long of an estimate to be very precise.

Thanks, Larry. The repairs should start in a couple weeks. I hope the shop lets me come take a look at their progress once a week or so. I'd find it very interesting, I'm sure. They're replacing the quarter panel on that side.

Jeepers Nick, I'm glad you are all OK. A little more impact and that would have been nasty.

Somebody up there is watching over you.

Joe:)

Thanks, Joe. Yeah, it was a big hit.

My wife tells me it was my driving that kept us from rolling over. She didn't see the impact coming, and that one second she was just sitting there in the back seat and the next she was looking at pavement outside the left-rear window. I tell her I don't think I had the time to do anything really smart. Neither of us knows for sure, and I wonder about it myself. Without a replay of it, there's no way to know.

If I did help, then I credit the years I've spent autocrossing and how seriously I take driving. The impact was at a speed I'm very comfortable at in a car that is at (and beyond) its limits.

Since the hit was in the right rear, and the car therefore yawed to the right, I imagine my instinct was to counter it. Did that help dissipate some of the energy and keep us from rolling or spinning more? Hell if I know. If that's what happened, for all I know it only made things worse.

If you were hit in the back and you turn the wheel to correct the direction it deffinetly helps you to avoid a roll over since your front wheels become the pivot while moving forward there is a moment when the rear of the car goes faster than the front (while spining) so turning the wheels the way you did helps the spin movemoent to go smoother than with the wheels on the opposite direction wich will cause an easy rollover... like when you steer fast on a closed tunr.

Good thing you are ok. But from the hit you describe I'll say they can probably total the car, since all those air bags and sensors are way too expensive plus the damage to the car. Anyways, its better to get a new car after a t-bone hit, it wont stand another similar hit....

Good luck.

Like Guyver and your wife says, your driving reactions saved you from a possible roll.

Remember your left wheels were scuffed, if they dug in you were over, and unthinkable glass aquarium damage.

You were all lucky, but skill helped.

Joe:)

Accident
 

Hi Nick, Glad to see everyone came through intact. While I was reading the thread I was thinking your wife will be getting a new car. It sounds like that will not happen. To bad! Take care, BOBB

Yeah, the kid's insurance company will repair up to 75% of the value of the car. I expected the car was a total loss, too. The estimate we're going with is for roughly $9,000, but I expect it to top ten grand. That's a couple grand from a total. I was impressed with how thorough the shop's estimate was, and they're planning on replacing entire structural panels instead of trying to reshape them.

Oh, hey, and we picked up the rental last night. It's an '08 Legacy. :) My wife called every rental place in town until she found one with a Subaru. They were supposed to have an Outback, but that didn't work out. When they get another we'll trade them.

Even if they replace the entire structural panels make sure they use brand new parts.. I used to work at a body shop and they got so many used parts and clips for cut and weld that you wont believe it. If they give you the option to choose I'll go for the money honestly.... My old boss used to say... "Nobody See... Nobody Knows" What insurance is taking care of you???