Last Thursday I was in an accident with my 2002 A4. 90 y/o lady turned left in front of me and wham. Left frontal damage to the car at ~30 MPH, significant enough impact to deploy the unoccupied passenger airbag, but mine did not go off. Can anyone explain why this would happen. I would figure if impact was sever enough to warrent any deployment it would've been mine. Is this something I need to take up with Audi for faulty airbag?

 

Did you buy the car used or new?

 

It was used at 62k, looked up service records from local dealer and it was taken care of by a guy in his 50's

 

sometimes if the impact doesn't lead to the airbag sensor, it won't deploy. i've seen accidents like that, that's best of my knowledge.

 

Yeah if the passenger front did, i think the driver should have as well.

 

depend if it hit the sensors. ive been hit in a frontend accident fairly hard and none of my airbags went off.

 

Some american models, especially early ones, had crash sensors in the front of the car, near the bumper. These cars have self contained sensors in the airbag computer (and underneath the seats for side impacts), there are not external ones outside of the car in the bumper. Also, deployment does not depend on "hitting" or making physical contact with these sensors, not even for bumper mounted sensors at the front of some cars. They detect rapid deceleration, not physical impact. The sensors are accelerometers that measure the negative acceleration when your car runs into something. Airbags are designed to prevent a person from hitting the steering wheel or the dash. An airbag should not deploy just because the car was hit, it should deploy if the car slows down fast enough as to put a person at risk for hitting the steering wheel. For example, if a car is stationary and is hit by a car head on, the airbags should not deploy.

Based on what I have read on my service manual, there arent conditions that would make only one of the frontal airbags deploy and not the other... My manual seems to state that first the seatbelt pre-tensioners fire, and if the accident is more severe the front airbags deploy (it doesnt specify one is trigger seperate from the other). Not to mention, if you think about it, it would make more sense for the driver airbag to deploy first, as a person is closer, and more likely to make contact with the steering wheel than a passenger to hit the dash.

Is your airbag light on currently (it should be)?, had it been on in the past? If you have a VAG COM you should scan for codes. If you are the first owner of the car, I would talk to Audi directly, and see what they say. EDIT: I see your not the first owner. I would see if the airbag light is on, and you could call audi anyway and see what they say about it.

 

Hey Dallas, thanks for that reply. I did talk to one of the Audi service managers here in this area and he said that the 2002 had the sensors in the area of the ECU and they do sense deceleration on both sides and determine if deployment is necessary. When I took the seatbelt off, I could not get the seatbelt to retract so I would say that the tensioners did go off . I am sitll concerned that mine did not go off, and naturally I would think that Audi should also be concerned. I did hear from the other insurance yesterday that they are going to total the car, so I do need to move on something if I am going to do it. If Audi is so concerned about the safety of their cars, they really should look into this issue. There were no airbag lights on prior to the accident and I could not tell you now if they are on since the battery is toast from sitting in the tow yard. I do know that the car was meticulously maintained by the previous owner at the dealership so it is not an issue of someone messing up the car. There is a part of me inside that still has faith in the Audi, but I also would like to know if there was a failure tht could cause others to get hurt. Does anyone know who or how I go about dealing with corporate on this?

 

Did you get hurt due to the airbag not going off? If not you have no complaint. If you truly just want to alert them of a problem just call AOA and tell them.

 

I called the general manager of the dealership and he is going to talk to the service manager about this. I told him about the situation and that if there is a problem, that Audi would not be able to make it right if they do not know about it. It is not my intent to go after Audi since I was not injured from the airbag not deploying. I just want to make sure if there is a problem that noone else gets hurt. They can only know about things like this if people give them feedback. Of course if they feel compelled to help me out on the purchase of another Audi, then I would be appreciative, but I am not after them to sue or anything. How can I say I loved my Audi and then turn around and file a frivilous lawsuit against them?