hi guys...
if you don't already know, i was in a bad accident last week...
i was hit from behind and pushed into a car in front of mine.
what type of impact will engage the airbags?
mine did not go off, and everyone that i've told this to has said that is wrong.....
please clear this up for me! thanks in advance!

 

nfo, How fast was the car that hit you going?

 

I'm not sure a rear impact would deploy the airbags. That might depend on how hard your car hit the car in front of you.

 

I was thinking the same thing as Jim. You have bags for the front and sides of the car but not the rear.

You car would really have to be slammed pretty hard into the car in front of you to deploy the front bags IMO.

 

I work at an automobile accident reconstruction firm, and we deal with airbag deployment daily. On Ford vehicles the airbags could deploy from 8-14 mph. Anything above 14 mph and the airbags will deploy. The rear impact would not set off your bags, but the frontal impact could. Do you have an appoximation of how fast the driver that hit you from behind was going? Where you stopped? Where you applying the brakes. There are a lot of different variables here. For your side and head air bags to go off you would have had to been hit offset some number of inches from the center of the car to even get some readout on the airgab sensors that are in control of the side and head bags. I hope any of this info helps.

 

ahhh...
thanks guys.
i got hit really really hard from the back.
my collision with the car in front of me was minor in comparison.

 

>>I work at an automobile accident reconstruction firm,

It's reassuring that some one in your line of work has a MINI ordered!

 

>>>>I work at an automobile accident reconstruction firm,
>>
>>It's reassuring that some one in your line of work has a MINI ordered!

Here are a few links with some crash test results of a Mini Cooper. NHTSA has a 4 star rating (4 star is the highest for NHTSA) For the size of car, the MINI is quite safe.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/2474.html

http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0222.htm

Motor On!

 

I agree with m3ster on this one, although i am sure i am much less knowledgeable about such matters. There are airbag sensors in many places within the vehicle that measure all sorts of things in the event of a collision, and when you are hit from behind the front airbag does not deploy (i think) because in a rear collision the airbag would just smack you in the face and do more damage since rear collisions send your head into the seat, not the steering wheel.

I think thats the way it works anyway.

 

glad you're ok, nfo.
just curious, what color is your car and do you have the brake light mod?

 

I'm not familiar with the Mini system off hand. But typical automotive systems include things like crash sensors/decelerometers which measure the amount of forward momentum suddenly stopped by the crash. Many air bag computers share data with the engine computer, taking wheel speed into consideration when making the split second decision to deploy or not to deploy...

 

>>ahhh...
>>thanks guys.
>>i got hit really really hard from the back.
>>my collision with the car in front of me was minor in comparison.


Very sorry to hear about your accident, nfo. Good luck with everything.

It sounds like your MINI's safety system performed properly to me. When hit in the back, your head and body would have been thrown backwards into the seat and away from the steering wheel and windshield.

When you were pushed into the car in front, depending on how hard you hit, and how much the two cars crumpled and absorbed the forward energy, it may not have been enough to trigger the driver's airbag.

Did you hit your head on the steering wheel? If not, I'd say your airbag sensors saved you an abrasion and busted nose.

See ya,
JS