I just wanted to share this with the community. I just heard back from the General Manager and everything seems to be in order. The 02 model had part of the new technology airbag system. The computer senses the shockwavethroughout the car and the impact to the occupant of both driver and passenger. The system did not have the actual occupancy sensor to adjust and sense if there is an occupant. In my case the computer sensed the crash and determined that the seatbelt was on, and that the tensioner was working adequately to keep me sufficiently away from the steering wheel so I was safe from that impact. Since the passenger side was not occupied and therefore the seatbelt was not connected, it felt that the passenger would be in danger of contacting the dash so it deployed. The newer cars do have the occupancy sensor so they can add that piece, but did not get the info on what year that started. All systems appear to have functioned properly, so I feel better about the situation. Takeaway from this......dam them Audis are nice

 

Hm very interesting, I knew the newer models were quite a bit more sophisticated, but I didnt know they made those changes as early as they did. I was aware of them adding the occupancy sensor at a certain point around the year of your car, but not aware that they so independently dealt with the front passengers.

 

I wasn't aware of the B6's having that technology either, i knew the B7 and B8 had them.
You want to see some advanced saftey air bag systems, check out a D3 A8, its even got an air bag for your knees!

 

So a little more on the whole situation. They are going to total the car and I am going to get a check for the value of the car minus the "salvage value", and I have to take care of sending the car out for salvage to recoup the other $1900. I am going to have the car towed here until I have the bank paid off and get the title. I have been looking at te pictures closely and I really don't see any structural damage to the car. It looks to me like I could replace the fender, hood and bumper parts and I may be most of the way there. I was just looking up the cost of a replacement bumper cover and it is like a grand alone. for about $225 I can get the fender and hood, so that is not a big deal. I also found used (not deployed) airbags for $220 and would need to find the dash cover. I am also going to have to replace the headlight assy and hl washer. The big question is will I be able to reset the airbag so as not to have the lights on all the time? The other thing that popped into my head is the possibility of getting a body kit for less money than a stock bumper cover. I know the intercooler is toast, so I think that would get replaced with a performance one since it would be cheaper. I am going to talk to the bank to ask them if I can repair this instead of going the salvage route. If so I think I can do this and maybe even have enough money left over to buy my daughter a car along with improvements to my car. If the bank will let me I will keep the loan, and if I do not go for the salvage title, I should be able to keep it on the insurance with collision. I think I am starting to get a little excited here with the prospect of keeping my B6.

I added a pic of the damage in my garage since I did not know how to add it in this post. Any other opinions on this would be good. The wheel was not damaged in this and the tow truck driver did drive the car over to the flatbed to load it, so I know the car is still somewhat drivable

 

Youll have to ask the dealer about the airbag computer. Im pretty sure with mine if only the pretensioners and side airbags are triggered, you can reuse the computer a couple times (not indefinitly however), but if the fronts are triggered i think you need a new airbag computer. Yours could be completely different though.

 

I was considering that in my decision, but the biggest determinig factor for me is going to be the radiator. all the coolant dumped slowly after the accident. I am going to look at that and if it is just hoses to replace, then I will be in good shape. Since I was under the inpression before tht the intercooler had fluid I thought that was where it was coming from. After reading a little bit, I do not think these are water to air IC, so I do have to make sure the radiator did not get punched. If it is hoses I should be able to get it back on the road fairly soon. I can run it a week or two with no airbag on the passenger side since it is rare for me to have a passenger. I was also thinking about having the fender painted to match the color of the car and covering the primered hood with carbon fiber vinyl. I am planning on coming out of this in better shape than before the accident and I won't owe on the car.