Why no airbag deployment?
Car is still under warranty. Two accidents. Both front end. No airbag deployment. Why, I
was told by a Chevrolet Dealer, that I had not hit the deer in the right place. What does
that mean. Was the deer in the wrong forest? Or the bag didn't deploy because the I hit
the deer in the wrong place? What? Well, I was told " The deer did not the middle of the
front bumper". That is why the airbag didn't deploy. Am I stupid or what? Next accident
no deer. It was a man who dropped his cell phone on the floorboard of his truck. Went to
grab it and slammed on the brakes. No warning what so ever. Of course I rear ended
him. No airbag. Why did they not work this time. First time no deployment. Second time
no deployment. They have never been replaced. So they came from the GM factory.
WHAT or who is responsible? I have never received a recall from GM. Or maybe, they
are right? Not. So, when I do go in for the starter switch recall, I will ask again. What will
they say this time???
Air bags deploy on how fast the car decelerates when hitting something. Hitting a deer may not slow down a car fast enough to make the sensors that tell the air bag to deploy to do so. Answer is to stop running into things!
Be thankful you weren't going fast enough or hitting hard enough to require airbag protection. Airbags themselves can cause some injury now to mention all the additional damage they do to the car and the added cost to replace them. Of course if you're insured the cost is no issue. Sounds to me like you have yet to find out if they're working or not. May I suggest a tree at dead center at about 40 miles an hour. KIDDING!!
Funny. But, My point is "Are they defective". After all my car is a Cobalt. Many recalls. Should I be afraid. My Grandchildren are with me a lot. I want us to be safe. They are in the back, in their carseats. Being safe as possible, is what one would expect.
You are totally safe. There is no reason to think the air bags won't deploy if triggered. I don't believe any of the recalls are air bag related. There have not been many recalls. There have been two that could be considered safety related and one that had nothing at all to do with safety. And that is for the '06 model. An '09 likely had two of the 3 items dealt with before it was even built. Take it in and get the ignition switch dealt with when parts are available and drive responsibly and you and your grandchildren are as safe as yo would be in any other modern car on the road.
Thank You...
I had a 2009 2 door Chevy cobalt and was in a car accident last Wednesday. I was rear ended at 64mph and slammed into the car in front of me. My airbags did not deploy and my key would not come out of the ignition. My front bumper was nonexistent. So, I would say you should have your vehicle checked or get a second opinion. I sustained a fracture from my accident and I read recently that if an air bag is not deployed in an injury induced accident, the vehicle/incident should be reported. Hope this helps.
Wow, you had a rough time with that car. Sorry to hear you got hurt, but am glad you're going to be OK. I agree it should be reported, but I'm not sure to whom. I'm wondering if they didn't deploy because they no longer had power going to them. The battery is in the trunk so you probably lost power before you collided with the car in front. Not sure if air bags have some sort of a reserve power source or not. Maybe someone else can chime in and enlighten us.
Garagegirl, munron, and cjh221 This is very important, There is a recall for the Cobalt and a lot of other GM vehicles ignition switches. The ignition switch would switch to accessory in a accident and then the airbags would not deploy. For your life get the issue fixed immediately!!
You’re kidding, right? The recalls you are talking about are ancient history. Cobalts were recalled for possible ignition switch problems years ago. At the time all Cobalt owners were notified multiple times about the problem, what to do until parts were available, when parts were available and when to bring their cars in. It’s unlikely there are any affected Cobalts on the road that haven’t had those repairs made. Apparently there was a recall for some of them for airbag problems (mine wasn’t but some were) as well. I’m sure that too was handled by GM in a similar way.
My daughter just had a accident at 60mph with 05 cobalt, NO airbag deployment, total front end destroyed. Fortunately she was not injured. This is a big problem, and a lawsuit waiting to happen against Chevrolet
Those lawsuits happened years ago. It was a big problem which is why many were recalled. Did your daughter’s car have any recalls that were not done? Any dealer can tell you by looking up the vin. Were there any dashboard warnings saying the airbags need servicing? I’ve got that warning on my 06 so I know I don’t have airbags. Scanned it for trouble codes and am told the clock spring has failed. Might fix it some day but until I do it’s my fault if they don’t deploy, not GM’s. Just saying maintenance is important on older cars. They don’t last forever. Glad your daughter is ok. Hope some of this info helps.
My daughter had same thing happen to her Paul a truck slammed its brakes on at an intersection and my daughter rear ended it and no air bag deployment the hood is smashed up to the center of the engine compartment and even cracked the transmission housing.
The cars airbags are defective!! Not one air bag deployed .... NOT ONE!!!
Did you have an airbag fault warning light on the dash prior to the crash? I don't think the air bags in my Cobalt work either, but there's been a warning chime and light on for the last year and a half so at least I know about it. I hope nobody was hurt looks like it was a pretty good hit. Thank goodness for seat belts.
