bloo had a little encounter with a pole at the donut shoppe this am. I can use a little levity now but this morning I was so ticked off at myself.

Seems I was backing up at say 2 to 5mph, turning my wheels and looking over the passenger seat when I accidently tagged a signpost with the drivers door

Yeah, I know. what a knucklehead. Made a small dent and scratched in the door. The wierd thing is that I must have hit the sensor dead-on as both overhead and driver's seat airbags went off. These things really work! Scared the dickens out of me. Car wouldn't start right up afterwards, either. Guess it had to reset after the bags went off. Already spoke to an adjuster and got a check to fix it. $1,800. Most of it from the bags deploying. New seat, headliner and car out of commission for a week :???: :???: :???:

On three weeks of ownership and 1265 miles. Damn, Damn and double Damn!

 

Man that sucks! Only possible consolation: at least you know the airbags work?!?!?!

 

Where they Krispy Kreme donuts? Damn them's good donuts.

 

:smile:

 

I heard that when someone drove off the curb it deployed their front airbags. interesting story you have about the side airbags.

 

Thanks for the good vibes, people.

Most expensive cup o' coffe I had in years. BTW it was Dunkin'. and they suked.

Can't wait to get home from the office. I hear my son (9 years old) is really pissed off at me, never mind my SO.

 

Ins. adjuster said door was $300 - $350 tops to repair. Most of the damage is from the airbags going off. New seat, headliner, bags, etc. My ded. was $250, heck I wouldn't have even reported it if it was just the door. Now my premium is going to go up.

Be careful someone doesn't kick your doors at the right spot (midway between the mirror and handle) or your bags may go off.

 

That's not right. The airbags should not deploy unless needed. I'd push hard for warranty coverage of the bags.

 

>>That's not right. The airbags should not deploy unless needed. I'd push hard for warranty coverage of the bags.

Nice try, but WRONG.

There’s a sensor associated with the air bags that works on g-force and momentum. The speed does not have to be fast for the air bags to deploy. At the same time, a deer hit me head on while I was going about 60 MPH and the air bags never deployed because I never slowed down until I pushed on the breaks.

Inertia has everything to do with when they deploy – not speed.





_________________
02 MCS ~ EB/W ~ Sports ~ Aero ~ Rally Lights

 

I was not in my MINI when I was hit by the deer I have to add and is the reason I have Rally Light now.


_________________
02 MCS ~ EB/W ~ Sports ~ Aero ~ Rally Lights

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not really griping just sounding off because of my own stupidity. Be glad the bags are there when you do need them, they may save your life or someone you love.

Can't they just design them so they're not so expensive an issue to resolve after they go off?

Hey, I agree the last sentance above deserves some laughter. Its coming from a guy that drove a '69 MGB for most of his life. No airbags, no crumple zones, no ABS, but is does have a collapsible steering wheel No A/C either :???: Very hot in Miami.

 

FYI:

I just had my hood repained ($500), and a small dent taken out of the rear panel and repainted ($600). They did a nice job, and I think the paint on the hood is better than the original paint. Body work is expensive! Good luck! :smile:

 

'lectricbloo's point raises an important issue. While most of us would agree that airbags are good things when they go off in a "real" collision, they're NOT so good when they go off on 2 - 5 mpg collision in reverse with a sign post. I think that sndwave is exactly right as to the basic physics of WHY they deployed (inertia is different than impact)...but this is still perhaps not right. Rather, it is entirely possible that the MINI airbag deployment system is either programmed incorrectly or that there's a problem in 'lectricbloo's particular car.

Seems to me that airbag sytems have a dual responsibility. One is go off when there's a need for them and equally important is that they DON'T go off when they're NOT needed. Needless deployments not only cost money (as this case illustrates) but are also quite dangerous. 'lectricbloo hits on that (so to speak) when he says how scary the deployment was. Imagine if he was still moving or in traffic. A pointless deployment could then contribute to an accident.

So, rather than quickly dismissing this, I'd think hard about it. I've read several other posts here on MCO about dubious deployments. I wonder if this is the "tip of the iceberg" of a larger issue.

At least 'lectricbloo should talk to MINIUSA about this to get an investigation and a better (any) explanation.

 

^ I'm not sure that laughing was what he had in mind by sharing this story...

 

Don't know if I have much to go on. The BMW collison "expert" said the door deformed 1-1/2 to 2" and that was enough to set off the bags. The way the door was hit was very odd in the angle. The area is not a usual place to be hit except in extreme circumstances or a shopping cart type incident. The shopping cart wouldn't turn on the bags but deforming the sheetmetal 2" would set it off.

I personally think it was just an odd accident that probably wouldn't be repeated in normal circumstances (and if I had been paying attention to the stupid pole). Funny thing is the cop I spoke to said the pole gets hit at least bi-weekly by someone backing out.

Sorright toeknee, I can laugh about it now :smile: It did scare the bejesus out of me, tho. Wasn't expecting it at all. I actually sat there for a full 30 seconds wondering what the %$#@! happened.

 

WTF... Front airbags are not supposed to deploy except in a frontal collision....period.

You are lucky your hands were not in the way of the bag, good way to break bones they come out so hard and fast. It's not like that silky pillow the lexus commercials used to show deploying in slo mo... Imagine really heavy duty cordura nylon backpack material, and you'd be dead on...

I'm glad you're ok!

 

The only bags that deployed were the seat and overhead on the driver's side (side that was hit). Seatback was ripped open from bag explosion, the headliner popped out front to back and the grabhandle in the rear had its covers blown off. Actually felt like someone slapped me across the face as I had enough time to turn back around and face the front before the bags went off (when I heard the first sound of crumpling door skin).