Does anyone know, if the air bag has been deployed if this will prevent the car from starting? I was told that once it is deployed, it acts like a fuse and prevents the engine from getting electricity for safety purposes. ???

 

Depends on the car. My Range Rover will blow the fuse to the electrical system if the crash sensor bits the dust in an accident. Most cars including the mini though don't have that feature.

The easiest way to tell is if there is a huge fuse system on the POS terminal of the battery that is what blows. You can't hook up jumper cables to the POS terminal of the battery or you will blow the fuse, so the car will have an alternate hook up for the POS terminal like so