anyone ever have an airbag go off by accident!

That happened to a friend of mine a couple of months ago in his Camry. It was funny as hell.

 

I'd work with the dealer first and make sure they detail the car all up after replacing the panels. Express your displeasure and see if they'll throw in some touch-up paint work or something.

 

i hit a curb a few months ago, its set off my side impact airbag.

 

That sucks man. Hopefully you won't have to pay anything

 

Your car has six airbags, did all of them really blow?
The dealer should help you unless maybe you hit so hard you did damage to the rest of the car.

 

YES.

In a 2001 Volvo V70 Wagon. I was starting the engine and I heard this huge explosion -- like a shotgun blast. Almost without thinking, I opened the door and dove onto the pavement. I thought somebody was shooting at me !!! What a dork, huh?

Anyway, when I realized I wasn't injured and nobody was shooting, I got back into the car as saw powder all over the passenger seat. The side impact bag had fired, but not deployed. The whole plastic facia around the seatbelt was off the car.

Volvo dealer said "WTF Mate?", but they replaced it under warranty. Car was sold shortly thereafter, and I'll never own another Volvo. Ours was a POS.

-Daniel

 

I've had mine go off from hitting a tree backwards before. The airbags caused more damage to me then the wreck itself did.

 

Don't all airbags deploy by way of accident?

 

I guess we want them to be a little 'touchy' rather than not go off when needed

PS: Airbags go off based on accelerometer readings.

Some of them (hitting a curb, tree, etc) seem appropriate, others like going off when starting the damn car, seem like malfunctions that SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!

 

Has anyone ever thought that smell that airbags give off smells like death?

 

local State Farm adjuster was killed in a GM car here. he reached in to examine a car that had minor front end damage. he reached in through the open window to turn on the ignition to get the odometer reading. he had his head in front of the airbag . when he turned the key on it went off, and broke his neck.

 

good call!

 

Must have been a nasty pothole. Did you have any warning or fault lights on before the airbags deployed?

I've seen a few E46 M3's which have had airbags go off as a result of large potholes, going over speed bumps too quickly or hitting a kerb.

 

What other problems did you have, or things you didn't like about the car?

 

No. Seat occupancy sensors, and the nature of the accident, determine which airbags go off.

About the only accidents which will result in all the airbags going off is if you roll the car.

For example, a few years ago our test BMW 7 series was rolled at 200kmph by an automotive journalist (go figure), and most if not all the airbags deployed. He walked away from the accident btw...

 

I think you should complain to the people that built that thing and the DOT. One of the big reasons that there aren't more recalls for unsafe cars is most people, believe it or not, don't complain the government.

 

Ive been scared of airbags ever since I saw Final Destination 2!

 

I worked for Volvo and the first generation S80 (and V70 with the really areo body) had some issues with reall schizophrenic computers. I had a customer who was getting out of his S80 with a hand full of files and such give the disco bump to his drivers door to close it.... KAPOW the side curtains deployed. Now if this was the only issue this particular car ever had this would have been just one of those things they want an inspection of... yatta yatta but in this case they deployed the whole damn swat team from Volvo to figure out what happened.

His car's computer was about as well balanced as Courtney Love with a hand full of crack