Help! Airbags deployed & my car won't start!
 

I was just drivin down the freeway late last night when all of a sudden.... POW! Got hit in the face with the airbag.... For absolutely no reason!

But that's not what I'm concerned about... what I am concerned about is that my car won't start now! What can I do to start the car?

Call MINI and get them to come fix it under warranty

My car isn't under warranty anymore.

Yah hope for warranty work. Airbags cost a fortune.:roll:

I don't care about the airbags.... thats beside the point. I'll just take em out. How can I start the car???

a safety feature like this might still get covered under warranty. I'd at least give the dealer a call.

:eek2: Holy cow! That's scary as hell...I'm very glad you weren't injured as a result of that incident.

Warranty or not, I'd be on the phone with MINI telling them what happened, the potential for disaster, and seeking their input on what my next steps should be.

If the car won't start, use your AAA or whatever roadside assistance you have (if you have) and get the car to a dealer. It needs a good going over anyway after what happened. I'd be left wondering, "what else is wrong?!". :impatient

the car will lock its self down for I think a few hours. If not for a few hours you have to reset the obd II codes.

This happened on our mm.org's mmglc crossing to Mini Fireman's wifes car. If i remember correctly we called a flat bed and just about the time it got there the car started right up.

good luck. :cry:

WTF man!! that suks big time...call the dealer and see what they say at least. Check the battery area, I believe there is a fuse back there that blows when the airbags are deployed to prevent a electrical fire or sumpin.

Damn J, thats crazy. let me know.

Airbags blow, then the "+" of the battery terminal will blow to protect emergency personnel and occupants of the un used airbags from deploying. (they can kill)


You'll need to replace it.

Replace what exactly?

I can understand your concern about the car not starting, but airbags deploying automatically for no reason is a major safety issue and should be your main concern as to why it happened.

There is an explosive bolt..
 

in that orange thinggy back by the battery. It opens the high current path up to the engine and the starter so there won't be shorts that dump the battery in an accident. For the sort term, you may be able to jump over this with one "half" of a set of jumper cables, but I don't know if the ECU will let you do anything with everything shot. So try that, and after you've hooked it up, disconnect the battery for a bit (I remember some one had issues with something like the car not starting after disconnecting one of the voltage paths), hook it up and crank her over!

Matt

:lol: your MINI punched you in the face for tryin to get rid of it man!:grin:

hope you getter going again with that bolt/fuse thingy.

6500 + posts explaining the kinematics, thermodynamics and mechanical engineering behind the Mini and Matt finally uses the word "thingy"!

If I was "just drivin' down the highway" and my airbag blew up in my face I'd be a heckuva lot more concerned about WHY that happened rather than how to start my car. I wouldn't even want to drive it.

Suggest you take the car to the dealer to have it properly repaired.

Bout $1100 for the passenger side :sad:

:sly:

I'm a little suspicious about this "airbags blow for no reason" story. What's really up? There are several concerned people here, both for you as well as for our cars. We need a few more details- or are you trying to restart a car under suspicious circumstances, like stealing from a salvage yard? What's really up here?

:sly:

Dr. O is right... The car is also designed to cut power to the fuel pump as well to help eliminate the possibility of a fire.

If the airbags deploy (for whatever reason), there is a device called a "battery safety terminal" that disconnects at the battery to protect against short circuits and fire in case of major vehicle damage. The positive terminal on the battery cable has a black housing. Two heavy gauge wires come from this terminal. One leads directly from the ternimal to an orange-and-black box next to the battery. Inside this box is a 250 amp fuse. This fuse protects every single electrical accessory in the car except for the starter and the alternator field. Those last two draw (and supply) far too much current to practically fuse, so instead they get their own circuit via the BST. If the airbags deploy and the system decides the conditions are severe enough, it also will blow the tiny explosive 'bolt' inside the terminal. This will pop the cable off of the battery terminal clamp, then the battery cable gets held in place from accidently reconnecting by hooks inside the black plastic housing. If you try jiggling the bog red wire coming from this housing, you'll probably find that it is loose. You will need to replace the BST assembly to restore power. You can jury-rig a connection to temporarily restore power, but doing this leaves an unsafe condition should you get into a severe crash.

New entry for the OED....
 

BST = "Thinggy" (and note, two "g"s!)

Matt