| marcy |
I hit a curb last night, not that hard, and my side curtain airbags deployed. They ripped my ceiling and my seat. The car was totally fine. Acura service is going to check the sensors, but says if the sensors are ok, then I have to foot the huge bill to redo the airbags.
Has this happened to anyone else? Did Acura cover it?
Any suggestions for me?
Thanks! |
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| G. COLTON |
I would think that this is an accident and would be covered by your insurance.
G |
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| marcy |
| Yes, but then I have to pay my deductible. My point is that bumping a curb should not deploy the airbag and Acura should cover it under warranty. |
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| eurohazard |
| "How" did you hit the curb? With the front wheel while trying to do a U-turn? Or with the back wheel while parking? Or while drifting into parking spot a-la stunt driving? |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by marcy
Yes, but then I have to pay my deductible. My point is that bumping a curb should not deploy the airbag and Acura should cover it under warranty.
As I was not present to determine how hard you hit the curb I cannot comment of that.
G |
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| marcy |
| I was driving along a normal street at about 40MPH. I drifted right and hit the curb. Then the airbags went off. I looked at the curb and don't see anything. |
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| G. COLTON |
The air bags probably did what they are supposed to do.
G |
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| hammermdx |
quote:
Originally posted by marcy
I was driving along a normal street at about 40MPH. I drifted right and hit the curb. Then the airbags went off. I looked at the curb and don't see anything.
40mph.....I'd be pissed if the side airbags didn't go off! |
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| marcy |
| I barely bumped it. |
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| shootist |
quote:
Originally posted by marcy
I barely bumped it.
I'll be really surprised if Acura replaces this for free. Really, really surprised. Downright astonished.
The side airbag sensors said "Hey, wait a minute! We're doing 40mph, and we got bumped in the side. THAT"S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! We're about to get creamed by a side impact. DEPLOY!"
You should probably have your wheels aligned, and I bet you've damaged the sidewalls on one of your tires, too. You may have even bent a rim.
Now, how are you going to explain this to your insurance company? |
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| marcy |
| I took my car to get it checked out. Alignment was fine, no tire or rim damage. Suspension fine. I did have a nail in one of my tires (old problem) which I fixed and got the oil changed while I was at it. I am hoping the sensors are faulty. I take it to the dealer Tues. I left a message for my insurance guy Fri night, no call back yet. |
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| kiwi |
the sensors either work or they dont, and they can only work once, so you will have to replace the sensors too,
so how is the dealer supposed to check the sensors, all they will show is that the circuit is closed.
i agree with the other guys though, they did what they were supposed to do. it isnt acura's fault you hit a curb, so they wont pay out.
i supposed if you didnt want the airbags to work you could have pulled the fuse. |
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| gundalow |
| Let me guess, you were talking on your cell phone when it happened? |
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| theXman |
quote:
Originally posted by marcy
I was driving along a normal street at about 40MPH. I drifted right and hit the curb. Then the airbags went off. I looked at the curb and don't see anything.
Dude, that wasn't too smart. I guess you live & learn....
I've never heard anyone on this forum with faulty sensor (on side airbag) before, maybe I'm wrong. But things like this is extremely rare under normal circumstances. |
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| sliebl |
It's unreal that you drifted over into a curb hard enough to set off the airbags, but didn't do any tire or wheel damage. Especially at 40mph. You should have a badly roughed up wheel, at the very least.
Unless, you hit the curb square and the tire took all of the impact. But that's not what you indicated.
I'd believe the airbags could be activated on a direct shot square into a curb, but not just glancing off. |
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| gundalow |
Aw come on... fess up!
Driving into a curb, at 40 mph, there had to be a major distraction involved there??? |
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| vlam |
quote:
no, I wasn't
It doesn't matter. Your original post was "I hit a curb last night, not that hard.." You neglect to say that you were traveling 40mph. That's no parking bump. I would say that a situation like that may even end up with your car rolling over.
Be happy that you were not hurt and that there isn't more damage. You mentioned that the car is fine, where did you get the car check? |
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| Ceenit |
I would say your best arguement with Acura would be the conditon of your tires, rims, and alignment check.
If it was truly a minor light rub, then yes, they should not have gone off. However this is subjective, and Acura will of course take an opposing position to your definition of 'light rub'. Again, pics and data would be your best defense.
It would also be good to understand where the side impact sensors are located, and what triggers. (ie are they in a door panel and only triggered by door impact, or are they motion sensored and triggered by any sharp jolt or possible rollover of the car).
Again, data is your best defense. |
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| kflint |
My daughter did the same thing a year ago with my 2002 MDX. It blew out a tire and rim, and bent a strut and one leg of the engine cradle. Had to replace half the front suspension. It was $3,000 of damage! :eek:
Kelly |
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| kiwi |
you would have a have more than one sensor be bad for it to go off. you would have to have an impact sensor go bad, as well as a "decision" sensor,
bottom line is that they dont go off by them selves |
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| shootist |
Marcy,
As you've seen, this can be a tough crowd.
I didn't say, and wanted to, that I'm sorry to hear of the damage. When those side airbags deploy, they rip open a lot of the interior.
Did the seat side airbags also deploy, or just the side curtain airbags? |
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| XStatic |
If you wanted Acura to cover under warranty you should probably have come up with a better story, perhaps a pothole or something...
Still the airbags should never go off unless something really bad has already happened.
If they go off too soon they don't help much. Plus they are in themselves very dangerous. The risk of sprains, breaks, burns, even blindness or causing a severe accident to occur post deployment is far to great for these to go off for anything other than a major accident.
I have seen many people in small fender benders, even some with bruises caused by the seat belts, complain that the air bags didn't go off. As far as I am concerned if I can walk away with protection only from my seat belt then I didn't want them to go off anyway... |
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| highcountrymdx |
The side curtain airbag sensors look at decel rates, and roll rates. The side and front airbag sensors only look at decel rates. Apparently the side curtain airbag sensors fired not because of side impact g loading, but because they thought the car was beginning to tip over. Because of the nature of the incident, you might have a tough time proving the sensor's rollover sensitivity was out of limits.
Please keep us posted. |
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