458 airbag problem

First of all I hope there were no injuries to you or to your passenger.

Did your 458 had the airbags replaced as per recall campaign, or were you still on the waiting list when this happened? Or is this post-recall?

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Woah.... that made me look at this: https://auto.ferrari.com/en_US/owners/recall-campaign/ and look at a particular VIN

"If the passenger-side front airbag is deployed, a defective inflator produced by Takata can send sharp metal fragments toward the vehicle occupants, resulting in injury or death."

Glad you are ok

 

But as mentioned, the recall was for defective front passenger airbag; here what you seem to have got is rather a defective sensor (over sensitive in this case) for the side passenger airbag.
I think there should be a kind of self-test for defective sensors, but obviously that did not work properly.

 

First time we see this imo, please keep us informed ...

 

Glad you're OK. Please keep us updated.

 

Which model year please, is your Italia? 2011?

 

damn,that must be a scary experience, and glad there's no injury. So the airbag explode on its own and ferrari is asking you to pay for it?

 

Let me guess, you have to pay for it too.

 

I find that hard to believe, and how long is the airbag warranties by takata since many of them havent blow up since 1990s....if there's serious injury in this I smell lawsuit. I would look at used door panels from salvage yards to save the time and cost....reupholster it if the interior color isnt common

 

This is actually a common issue and I have seen it happen to quite a few cars not just Ferrari. Generally a very sharp blow to one of the rocker areas between the wheels but I have also seen it with very large potholes. Keep in mind there are only really only two companies making air bag systems so generally problems are not isolated to brands of cars.

 

First it doesn't matter what I think, my opinion isn't swaying anyone to get it fixed. I have worked within Ferrari Dealer network for a very long time. Here is how the conversation is likely going.
Did you buy it new? As a loyal customer both the dealer and the brand have a stake in making you happy. Regardless of who's responsible.
If not new did you buy it from a dealer? The dealer has a stake in making you happy.
Did you buy it used from an independent party? Have you been a loyal service client of the dealer? If not then the Dealer and manufacturer don't really have any motivation at this point.
Did you qualify for the extended warranty? Did you decline the extended warranty.
The car is 8 years old and has been out of warranty for 5 years. At some point you become responsible for the car.
It would be interesting to look at the data and see what is in the module memory and see what triggered the event. Was it actually a triggered event or an unwanted airbag deployment. I have seen aftermarket items and static electricity set off bags but that is much less common then a false trigger by an impact or severe pothole.

 

First off, I’m sorry to see that this happened to you! I can only hope that your significant other was not resting their arm on the door as you were driving along.

As for the deployment, I can see from your photos that you have lowered the car. IMO that in and of it’s self is going to be a hard hill to climb if you choose to go the “ legal “ route.

I have had the same thing happened to me, driving on a back road enjoying my car, when in full tilt left-hand turn I hit some uneven surfaces , the door panel airbag deployed. It was not until we got the car back to the dealership did we realize that the seemingly slightly uneven surface was actually more than that, enough so that it bent both the right side wheels.

If you have the time, request that they send the airbag EC you to the factory for them to decipher the data that was captured during the incident, it should tell you exactly how sharp of an impact or how uneven the surface actually was.

Good luck in your quest, and not that you are asking for it, but my opinion is that you should pay for the repair and move on to the next Ferrari you are in discussions with Ferrari on!

A

 

By the end, you can only sell this 458 if repaired … so you have to …. but a bad solution imo.

But Andrew gives us a very good idea about how dealers/factory might react …

Lowering of our cars may have consequences … food for thought …

All the best … and move on …

 

From the OP’s original post, it did not “explode on its own”, he hit “ bumpy “ surfaces. Just how uneven is open to speculation, but obviously uneven enough to deploy a passenger side door airbag ( wink )

A

 

Guys it’s quite simple
Send airbag ecu for analysis. Did the sensor deploy within its parameters. If not you have a claim regardless. If they can prove Lowering the car aggravates the deployment then that is contributory negligence, in other words, what they would otherwise owe you is deducted by your percentage of fault.
The difficult part is the ECU reading is only as good as the physical sensor having accurate readings. The sensor may still be able to be tested for tolerances. If within factory tolerance I think your claim is weak, if it’s shown the sensor itself is too sensitive, you have a good claim subject to any deduction from lowering the car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Theorethical, it sounds perfect friend daflk .

But where and how can you read the values of the ECU ?