Hyundai Genesis got into fatal accident, none of airbag deployed

[KDKPSJ]

So, I just saw this in Korean news. The car fishtailed in rain, and hit the guard rail on its side. The driver was wearing the seatbelt, however, none of airbags deployed and the driver was killed. The car was fully loaded with 8 airbags, including side curtain.

Hyundai rep says "Airbags deploy only if the impact was within 30 degree angle from the sensor at over 30kph (19mph)". In other words, the rep is saying that the airbag was not deployed because the impact was not within 30 degree angle from the sensor and/or slower than 19mph, despite the car is severely damaged (especially on its side), obviously totaled and the driver with seatbelt on was killed.

Does it make sense? So, when I hit by another car or object, should I make sure I am hit within 30 degree angle from the sensor? To me, it just looks like Hyundai trying to hide their arse and get out of liability.

 

[PricklyPete]

oh man...that's not good

 

[sdifox]

this is going to get ugly.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Huh - you would certainly think that at least the side curtain airbag would deploy in this situation. It might not have saved the driver's life - there is a ton of cockpit deformation here - but it is surprising it didn't deploy.

 

[Zargon]

Hyundai rep says "Airbags deploy only if the impact was within 30 degree angle from the sensor at over 30kph (19mph)". In other words, the rep is saying that the airbag was not deployed because the impact was not within 30 degree angle from the sensor and/or slower than 19mph, despite the car is severely damaged (especially on its side), obviously totaled and the driver with seatbelt on was killed.

Does it make sense? So, when I hit by another car or object, should I make sure I am hit within 30 degree angle from the sensor? To me, it just looks like Hyundai trying to hide their arse and get out of liability.

to me it looks like you don't knowthese work at all. it could just be a 'perfect storm' where the impact angle was just right to not fire any of the airbags

 

[KDKPSJ]

A little more pictures.

to me it looks like you don't knowthese work at all. it could just be a 'perfect storm' where the impact angle was just right to not fire any of the airbags

Maybe I don't. Though, it's so unfortunate that kind of 'perfect storm' happened, and Hyundai is not trying to step forward. Guess that's what you get when you buy Hyundai in Korea, where Hyunda/Kia holds 80% market share.

 

[Vette73]

Yea not to uncommon for airbags to not go off and not knowing how it hit and the speed it may be out of the sensors range.

Just like if the bags go off and hurt someone in a slow speed crash the maker gets sued.

 

[MaxFusion16]

looks survivable, even without the airbags, the passenger section was mostly still intact.
i've seen drivers walk away from much worse accidents.

maybe the driver banged his head on the glass, bad luck.

 

[amdhunter]

It happens. I don't think there are any guarantees that an airbag would deploy.

 

[thescreensavers]

I guess the ACUs accelerometer did not trip.

 

[punjabiplaya]

I'm pretty sure you can dig up incidents of this happening in other cars too

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25672765/detail.html

The estimation by NTHSA of air bags failing to deploy may be smaller than the number of times it actually happens. The report only looked at fatal crashes, and did not include accidents where drivers survive.

NHTSA took every fatal crash reported between 2001 and 2006 -- 1446 cases in all -- in which police reports said air bags didn't deploy in frontal impact crashes. NHTSA felt that the data on those crashes wasn't thorough enough, so it looked at crashes in a much smaller sampling of the overall number that it felt was correct.

It's from that small sampling, and the documented photographs and cases investigators found, that NHTSA came up with the estimated figure of 576.

"There's so many wrecks where people lost their lives because of air bags not deploying, well, that's a major problem to me," Davenport said.

 

[SearchMaster]

Yea not to uncommon for airbags to not go off and not knowing how it hit and the speed it may be out of the sensors range.

Just like if the bags go off and hurt someone in a slow speed crash the maker gets sued.

Hmmmm...my airbags went off in a low speed crash because the sensor hit the other car's bumper "just right". My wife was mildly injured - I shoulda sued and gotten my free money dammit!

 

[Mark R]

Does it make sense? So, when I hit by another car or object, should I make sure I am hit within 30 degree angle from the sensor? To me, it just looks like Hyundai trying to hide their arse and get out of liability.

It is normal for airbags only to deploy in an accident that is likely to significantly benefit from their activation. Airbags are inhibited when the impact is significantly off-axis, or not powerful enough, in order to avoid injury due to incorrect deployment. In a frontal impact, it's not always desirable to have the side airbags deploy as they may push the drivers head away from the main frontal airbag, as well as cause additional injury.

It is possible for airbags not to go off if the impact is not intense enough (depending on local requirement, this can be a particularly serious impact). If the description given is correct, that the car fishtailed into the barrier, then this is not the type of impact that airbags are supposed to protect against - they are designed to protect against a narrow impact, at high lateral speed - such as being T-boned by another vehicle. The performance on this type of accident may well be variable.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm pretty sure you can dig up incidents of this happening in other cars too

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25672765/detail.html

Oh, well it's okay then...

 

[Throckmorton]

How did the driver die??

 

[Doggiedog]

Hmmmm...my airbags went off in a low speed crash because the sensor hit the other car's bumper "just right". My wife was mildly injured - I shoulda sued and gotten my free money dammit!

It's kind of like what they teach T (subway) drivers in Boston when they are above ground. If there is an unavoidable accident involving a car on the tracks, it is better to hit the car rather than try to stop suddenly and injure a ton of people on the train. Better one dead than 50 injured for insurance purposes. At least that is what I heard.

 

[Zargon]

Oh, well it's okay then...

no one said its OK that the person died, but holy shit, it could be the drivers fault and not hyundai's

 

[Pulsar]

This happens ALL the time.

Why? Price.

I'm sure people are going to whine about that, but let's keep it simple. Replacing a single airbag is VERY pricey. Without selective deployment, insurers would RAPE you, and as a result no one would buy the vehicle.

Auto manufacturers HATE airbags. Why? Because of all the issues surrounding them. A good airbag law would set forward the requirements for the airbags. They do not. As such, the manufacturers take it from both sides: there are thousands of lawsuits against them for 'defective deployment' or 'incorrect deployment'.
With bags that take too much to go off, you get posts like this one. It's a no win, and one of many reasons why cars are so friggen expensive.

Ask me about the limits of sane headlight height laws next.
Say a car gets hit from the side and the front airbag goes off and breaks someone's nose or wrists: lawsuit.

Say you get rear ended and your front bag goes off and breaks your nose or wrists. Lawsuit.

Say your car rolls FORWARD end over end and your side curtains deploy (I've actually seen this one when someone missed their exit and plowed into the guard rail) and burn or break your arm - lawsuit.

So when I see this sort of post, and I see people going OMG WTF No air bag deploy, car is a deathtrap, sue sue sue! I want to vomit.

The safety laws (or lack thereof) have put the car makers in this position where they are getting reamed for being safe, not safe enough, or too safe, and NO one has defined clearly what they should be engineering to. Yet without airbags, no one would buy them, and with airbags that go off too easily , insurers will make the cars unaffordable.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This happens ALL the time.

Why? Price.

I'm sure people are going to whine about that, but let's keep it simple. Replacing a single airbag is VERY pricey. Without selective deployment, insurers would RAPE you, and as a result no one would buy the vehicle.

Auto manufacturers HATE airbags. Why? Because of all the issues surrounding them. A good airbag law would set forward the requirements for the airbags. They do not. As such, the manufacturers take it from both sides: there are thousands of lawsuits against them for 'defective deployment' or 'incorrect deployment'.
With bags that take too much to go off, you get posts like this one. It's a no win, and one of many reasons why cars are so friggen expensive.

Ask me about the limits of sane headlight height laws next.
Say a car gets hit from the side and the front airbag goes off and breaks someone's nose or wrists: lawsuit.

Say you get rear ended and your front bag goes off and breaks your nose or wrists. Lawsuit.

Say your car rolls FORWARD end over end and your side curtains deploy (I've actually seen this one when someone missed their exit and plowed into the guard rail) and burn or break your arm - lawsuit.

So when I see this sort of post, and I see people going OMG WTF No air bag deploy, car is a deathtrap, sue sue sue! I want to vomit.

The safety laws (or lack thereof) have put the car makers in this position where they are getting reamed for being safe, not safe enough, or too safe, and NO one has defined clearly what they should be engineering to. Yet without airbags, no one would buy them, and with airbags that go off too easily , insurers will make the cars unaffordable.

Well, if you buy a car with airbags you kind of expect them to work when get into an accident. I don't think that's too much to ask is it?

I've been in a car in which the airbag deployed when someone slammed on the brakes in front of me for no reason at all. I had burn marks on my wrists and a slight burn on the bridge of my nose. I was otherwise uninjured. I'm sure as hell not going to sue for something as insignificant as a couple minor burns.

I have heard of repair companies not replacing the airbags when they fix a car which should be criminal.

 

[JulesMaximus]

no one said its OK that the person died, but holy shit, it could be the drivers fault and not hyundai's

That's not what I thought pjp was implying. He said that it happens with other manufacturers too. I don't think that's acceptable.

 

[punjabiplaya]

Oh, well it's okay then...

I never said it was ok. I agree with what they were saying in the article:

"There's so many wrecks where people lost their lives because of air bags not deploying, well, that's a major problem to me," Davenport said.

 

[KDKPSJ]

I have no info about how the driver died, will update if I find out. FYI, this was not the first time that the airbags on Hyundai are being questioned in Korea. There have been several reports that the airbags have not been deployed under various conditions from fatal to minor accident. Those victims have been complaining it to the authorities, however, both the authorities and Hyundai have been just ignoring it, because it has been only happened to cheaper car like Elantra or Sonata.

But now this happened to Genesis, which Hyundai has been promoting to have the most advanced safety feature that is on par with its Japanese and German rivals (Of course, according to their marketing team lol), this will ignite the flame.

 

[Atty]

It is too bad this didn't happen in America. News headlines, accusation wars, and in the end a hopefully better law created or specifications. At least some awareness.

Oh well, automobiles will never be perfectly safe, my condolences to the deceased's family.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I never said it was ok. I agree with what they were saying in the article:

I didn't really think you did. But you can see how one could deduce that from your response.

 

[LTC8K6]

Looks more like the car hit the end of the guardrail where a protective device would have been. Like those sand or water filled barrels. This could have spread the forces out over area and time, which could keep the airbags from deploying.