A general air bag question

This morning a car pulled out in front of my sister in law and
husband. He didn't have time
to brake. He believes the two or three year old Avalon is totaled.
Everyone is OK, the sister in law was taken to the hospital for chest
pains. Probably due
to the seat belt.
My question is......... Not one air bag inflated. What would be the
reason for having no
airbags inflate when you hit something hard enough to total a large
vehicle other than
fraulty bags or sensors?

 

Sorry for the trauma to the family. I hope everything checks out OK
with the SIL.

There are certain criteria that the sensors must see. I don't know a
lot about this area, but I do know that the sensor must see a certain G
level purely in the fore-aft direction to trigger the bags. Any
component of the G level vector from the side doesn't enter into it.

 

Unless there are side airbags, presumably...

Glad to hear that Peter's family ok; let's hope chest pain is temporary.

DAS

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