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2007 Honda Element struck a deer head at 50-55 mph, destroying the whole front end, why didnt airbags deploy?
Everything on the front end from the hood to the tires was misaligned, cracked, broken or shattered on impact... yet the not one of the 4 airbags deployed (2 front & 2 curtain) I am not familiar with the mechanisms but we collided with the deer at 50-55 mph. Can someone explain what might have happened?
Many are correct, 2 deer jumped almost simultaneously, 1 from each shoulder of the road and we had 15-20 ft to react, with a line of vehicles behind us, so deceleration was not one of slamming on the brakes but rather a steady use of the brakes until we could safely pull over. Ok all of these answers makes sense and I have notified Honda and the insurance company so that the adjuster and technicians can follow it up and report it if necessary. I am not assuming there is a problem, just asking what seemed to be an obvious question in hopes that it would uncover any potential problems and maybe prevent someone from getting more seriously injured than they might have otherwise if all systems were functioning properly.
5 Answers
- RobsteriarkLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
Simple. The system wasn't needed in that collision..The impact energy was absorbed by the car and the deer had insufficient mass to cause massive and sudden deceleration of your vehicle. The deer and quite a bit of your car may have been destroyed but you were not in danger of being thrown forward.
Airbags can cause injuries or even death if they detonate unnecessarily, particularly in countries which have to fit oversized and more powerful 'bags to compensate for having no laws enforcing seat belt usage.
Your car may be repairable; if the 'bags had detonated it would usually be a write-off.
- Anonymous9 years ago
Airbags are deployed by accelerometers that measure how fast a car decelerates. It doesn't matter how fast you were going, it matters how quickly the vehicle stopped. Even though there was a lot of damage to the vehicle, the impact was much less than if you had run into a solid object such as a large tree.
Here's a simple way to look at it: Did your body hit the inside of the car in a place where there would have been an airbag? If you have a broken nose and black eyes from slamming your face into the steering wheel then the airbag should have deployed and something probably malfunctioned. If your face didn't slam into the steering wheel, then the airbag wouldn't have done anything except add to the repair bill. Same goes for the side curtain airbags if your head didn't slam into the side of the car.
- NaughtumsLv 79 years ago
The impact did not meet the criteria for deploying the airbags. If you had hit say a car, or a tree at that speed then yes, they would have deployed. But a deer is a different,... animal.
- J JLv 79 years ago
I have a good idea that the deer was tall enough to not be hit by the bumper to a point of collapse of any metal parts holding it. That is where the sensors are at and your deer rolled down the hood.
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- Country BoyLv 79 years ago
The poor deer didn't have enough *weight resistance when you hit it to have set-off the air bags which would have added a few more thousand to your comprehensive insurance bill.
Ask your trusty Honda dealer to explain this to you.
Source(s): Alignment, suspension and brake shop.
