I was in an accident 2 weeks ago. I was a passenger and the airbag did not deploy?

Question

we where driving a porche cayane. We where hit on the drivers side going through an intersection. Both cars where totalled. But on my side of the car non of the airbags deployed. it is equipped with front and side airbags. I don't have full range of motion in my neck and have a lot of pain in my neck, ribs and back. I don't know if my injuries would be less if the airbags would have deployed but should have the bags inflated on the passenger side if the impact was on the drivers side.

Answer 1

Airbags deploy only when they might be needed to prevent serious injury.

Frontal driver and passenger airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal crashes equivalent to hitting a solid barrier at 10-12 mph.

Some manufacturers use different inflation thresholds depending on whether people are using their safety belts.

Thresholds of 10-12 mph typically are used for unbelted occupants, but thresholds are higher — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds.

Side airbags are designed to protect an occupant's head and/or neck from striking objects inside or outside the vehicle in the event of a side impact crash.

Because of the small amount of space between an occupant's head and the side of the vehicle, these airbags must deploy very quickly to cushion the occupant from any intruding vehicle or object such as a tree.

Sensors detect when a crash is severe enough for deployment. Some curtain side airbags may stay inflated longer to protect occupants in rollover crashes.

Allowing the airbags to remain inflated or triggering their deployment during a rollover can help prevent full or partial ejection of occupants

Answer 2

I am not sure about this particular vehicle, but on many vehicles the airbags on the passenger side can be disabled by the ignition key turning a selector switch ...I do not know if this shuts off the side curtain bags...Give a Porsche dealer a call and ask them if the Cayenne has that capability.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

All the best.

Answer 3

Questions like this are asked and answered all the time here.  There are specific criteria that need to be met to activate a deployment.  Check out this website for the EXACT answers to your questions including the blog specific to your concern. This site tells you exactly what needs to happen for the airbags to deploy and what needs to be replaced (seat belts & all) on over 3500 cars after they do.  

http://www.airbagsolutions.com

http://blog.airbagsolutions.com

http://www.airbagsolutions.com/resources...

http://blog.airbagsolutions.com/archive/...

Answer 4

That's common.  The airbags, as they are very expensive to replace and cause TREMENDOUS damage to the interior, do not deploy unless absolutly needed.  These injurys are common in my oppinion.  If the drivers side had the impact, then the passenger side wouldn't need to deploy . . . I mean why would they need to??  Nothing is comming at you there!

For example, in a roll over it is common that the front airbags don't deploy, even if they are the only ones.  You may hit your head up front, but nothing bad.  Youll hurt, but that's common

Answer 5

Your injuries would not be any less if the airbags on your side of the vehicle had gone off, as you were being thrown to the side of the car where the impact took place.

Answer 6

I would report it to the car dealership.

Answer 7

There are acceleration sensors that detect which way the impact came from. There is no point in deploying a bag when the impact is moving the car body away from you. So only the driver's side would have triggered.