Should my airbags have deployed?

Question

my husband hit a deer head on( headlight to headlight) going about 50-60 miles and hour. it crinkled the whole front end and busted the radiator and the ac condensor after he hit it he ran over the deer the airbags didnt deploy should they have? he wasnt injured but i was just wondering if they should have

Answer 1

It would be wasteful and stupid to deploy the airbags when they aren't needed.  An impact plus severe deceleration should be required.  Hopefully, modern cars are smart about when to use them.

Hitting a deer is not the same as hitting a tree, especially as it sounds like he hit a fairly small one.  It is quite possible that his airbags behaved correctly. However, only Ford could tell you the exact circumstances in which they are supposed to deploy.

For example, I think it might be different in America than in the rest of the world.  In Australia, everybody is assumed to be wearing their seatbelt, so the driver's airbag is smaller and is probably programmed not to deploy as readily.  If you weren't wearing a seatbelt, even a low-speed crash would be sufficient to cause serious injury, if there was no airbag to save you.

Is it true that many Americans still don't wear seatbelts as a matter of course?  For my part, I wouldn't trust my life to a microswitch unless there was absolutely no alternative.

Answer 2

Of course they should have. I'm not positive/ but pretty sure their supposed to deploy in a 3 to 5 mile an hour impact.

Answer 3

Not necessarily. A hit on a deer is fairly minor impact on the bumper and the airbag sensors. The bumper hits the legs, knocking them out from under the deer and then the body of the deer hits the rest of the front end causing the massive damage seen in deer strikes. In fact in the case of deer vs car the high speed at which it occurs the less likely it is that the airbags go off. It all has to do with vehicle dynamics and the transfer of energy. The airbag sensors are triggered by a variety of factors that may not be present in a deer strike accident.

Answer 4

YES THEY SHOULD OF........

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.

Answer 5

yea they should have deployed... i would check it to see where exactly the sensors are on your car.

Answer 6

an air bag sensor simply is a ball bering with a sensor in the front of it if the deer didnt slow the car down fast enuf to make the ball bering roll forward into the senser then it wont blow the bags but it dosnt hurt to take it to the dealer and get a diagnostic done on the airbag computer cercit.

Answer 7

they should have fired. If you buy a used car you need to make sure the bags are in place

Answer 8

definetly should have

Answer 9

Why, did you want his nose broken?  

If your car did not trigger the air bags, then your car did right.  Your car hitting an object 1/10 its weight is not cause to trigger air bags.  It's not enough to significantly slow the car down, even - ask any physics student.   Airbags aren't about vehicle speed, they're about force and suddenness of collision.   Going from 60 to 58 because a deer hit you, no big deal -- going from 25 to 0 because you hit a wall, very big deal, that's when the airbags go off.   It's about G force (acceleration) of the collision.  Hit your brakes as hard as you can, collision forces can be 10, 20, 50 times that hard.  This deer collision wasn't that.

Airbags injure people.  They're not a good idea.  If his arm or hand was extended in front of it for some reason (you know, like hitting the horn!) it could have broken his arm or wrist.   Ask cops about where they put their hands when they drive, they live in constant fear of the air bag.  

They also knock the driver senseless, and it's very likely the car will still be moving after the initial impact. Then where does the car go?  Into oncoming traffic, into a sidewalk cafe, off a cliff, into a tree?  Airbags won't help with that second collision, they're already used up.

So yes it's correct for them not to go off unless you'd be seriously injured otherwise (and he wasn't).

In Europe, airbags are designed assuming the driver is wearing seat belts, so they only have to absorb additional force.  In America some drivers don't like belts (cultural thing), and so they have to "try" to design an airbag system that will help them out too, and that's tough to do and doesn't work very well.  As a result American bags are programmed to hit harder -- and more likely to injure you.

Seat belts + airbags are not much better than belts alone.  Airbags without seat belts are pretty lame. Better than nothing but not by much.  If you want REAL protection, look at NASCAR.  Wider belts (3" wide).  2 shoulder straps.  A crotch strap (which I'm sure consumers would never accept) and a helmet (ladies would never tolerate helmet hair) and a helmet strap to prevent whiplash.   But that's why you see those guys climbing out of horrid 200mph wrecks.

If he hit the steering wheel, the shoulder belt should've caught him, so there is something wrong with his seat belt's auto-retractor, and he should get that fixed because the seat belt is kinda useless without it.   On a Ford Escape that should be under warranty.   They could check the airbag system, but so can you - when you first start the car it should light an "air bag" dashboard light, then the light should go out and stay out.  

Now if he/you don't wear seatbelts, then you are darn right not to trust airbags!  I mentioned how nasty airbags are, can you imagine having them as your only protection?  Please please please wear seat belts.

Answer 10

the airbags should have deployed.

Answer 11

any sort of impact over 5mph should deploy the airbags.... if i were you i would take it to the dealership and find out what went wrong...make sure you report it because it could be a common mechanical problem that they need to do a recall on