Any consumer advocates out there? Need some advice if possible.

[Wheezer]

I own a 97 Plymouth Breeze. I was involved in an accident that was not my fault, I hit some old man in near his back passenger wheel. He pulled out in front of me and was cited. At any rate I was going 40-45 the posted speed limit is 45. The front end of my car is damaged pretty good but what really pissed me off was that the airbag DID NOT deploy.

I talked to a service manager at a local Chrysler dealer and he gave me some crap about G-Forces but upon doing some research I found this which states "frontal collision with an object while traveling over twelve miles per hour", other sites state 12-16 MPH. I was going 40-45 so wtf?

I was planning on taking some pictures into the dealer where I got the car, of the front end and the interior to show the failure of the airbag and being a REAL prick about it, then calling a consumer hotline on a local station.

What really pisses me off is that my GF drove that car on occasion 100 miles round trip to get to school when she was going, angers the hell outta me just thinking about it.

 

[KingNothing]

Talk to ducknuts.

 

[Wheezer]

who or what is that?

 

[amdskip]

We really do need pics. It will help use in this thread a lot.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: Wheezer
who or what is that?

Good question, we'd all like to know.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Wheezer
who or what is that?

He's talking about notable consumer advocate wduaqnug.

I don't know what type/generation of airbags are in a '97 Breeze, but speed is NOT the only factor in when an airbag deploys.

 

[zixxer]

in 97 breeze, iirc, there is a small glass box (it looks black..) and it *might* not shatter

I had a 96 grand am, and got into a bad accident (head on) where the idiot ricer that hit me was lowered. The little box is just in front of the top of the radiator, and it didn't break thus no airbag..

 

[Ornery]

The GD airbag can do more damage than the collision itself. My mother-in-law would like to have hers disconnected on her Avalon, since she sits so close to the wheel.

It's better to err on the cautious side and NOT have these damn things deploy for just any little bump. You may have been going 40MPH, but you did manage to hit the brakes before impact, right? My guess is that your 'sporty' little car has the nose dipped so close to the ground, that the bumper went under the frame of the other car. The airbag won't deploy unless the bumper is pushed in.