A sad day. Got T-boned today.

[dmurphy]

1) Looks like the airbags failed to deploy
2) If you have a garage, do not park this car in the garage as it may start fire.

The airbags did not fail - the SRS controller observed the angle and force of impact and chose not to blow off. This is smart and given the photos we’ve seen, appear to be the correct call, as there were no major injuries or incursions into the passenger compartment.

@mbdionio - glad you & yours are safe. That’s the important part. The rest is just twisted metal.

Here’s my wife’s airbag deployment immediately after hitting a deer at 75mph in the #2 lane. You can actually see the inflator still glowing in there.

Airbags are a last chance effort to save you from traumatic injury - in this case, she needed such as the deer hit directly in front of her and rolled up the hood and actually hit the driver’s window. In this case, the risk of injury from the airbag is less than the risk of injury from the violent accident. It was the right call.

In your case, the SRS system figured with the angle and velocity of impact, that it was unnecessary. It also apparently made the right call.

Best of luck with the repair; this was $21k in damage. I’m expecting yours to be similar
- or more.

 

[valaeyron]

Wait a minute! There’s an oversight - nobody blamed this on Autopilot malfunction.

it was an otherpilot malfunction. The pilot of the OTHER car.

 

[Kat Jacks]

I'm sorry about anyone who has accident in a Tesla. I've had my M3 for 5 weeks, luckily no problems of any kind, but I've noticed a few drivers have been beside me on the street, then pulled ahead quickly and cut in front of me. These cars were all high end ones--a BMW and Audi and Jaguar. I think they were just trying to show off and symbolically turning up their noses due to their insecurity because obviously my Tesla is the best car on the road. I don't need to show off, I know I'm top dog in my Red Beauty.

 

[valaeyron]

I'm sorry about anyone who has accident in a Tesla. I've had my M3 for 5 weeks, luckily no problems of any kind, but I've noticed a few drivers have been beside me on the street, then pulled ahead quickly and cut in front of me. These cars were all high end ones--a BMW and Audi and Jaguar. I think they were just trying to show off and symbolically turning up their noses due to their insecurity because obviously my Tesla is the best car on the road. I don't need to show off, I know I'm top dog in my Red Beauty.

This whole behavior is just silly. Unless you (these other drivers, to be clear) built the car yourself, you’re bragging about how much you spent on the car, which is not really a reflection upon you in any way. Anyone can spend money they have, or spend the bank’s money. That’s not special. Some people...

 

[Gasaraki]

Within spec

The next update will fix that.

 

[mbdionio]

I just installed the new software. Passenger door is still crumpled.

 

[alexgr]

The airbags did not fail - the SRS controller observed the angle and force of impact and chose not to blow off. ...

In your case, the SRS system figured with the angle and velocity of impact, that it was unnecessary. It also apparently made the right call.

How you know all that without investigation?
The fact is the airbags failed to deploy. Whether or not that was a correct response to the crash is another matter that should, IMHO, be investigated.

 

[MP3Mike]

The fact is the airbags failed to deploy.

They didn't fail to deploy if they weren't supposed to deploy. And the fact that there were no serious injuries points to the fact that they weren't necessary.

 

[dmurphy]

They didn't fail to deploy if they weren't supposed to deploy. And the fact that there were no serious injuries points to the fact that they weren't necessary.

Exactly right. There were no serious injuries and no cabin incursion. Therefore, there was no failure to protect the occupant, therefore, no failure of the airbags. It's that simple.

 

[Tron 3]

Here’s my wife’s airbag deployment immediately after hitting a deer at 75mph in the #2 lane.

I'm wondering how the hell a deer got on that highway...?

 

[Huskyfan]

Class action lawsuit against Tesla's failed airbags?

You have got to be joking. no injuries, but no airbags deployed. I’d say Tesla should get an award rather than a lawsuit. Obviously something went right in protecting the occupants.

 

[Huskyfan]

The airbags did not fail - the SRS controller observed the angle and force of impact and chose not to blow off. This is smart and given the photos we’ve seen, appear to be the correct call, as there were no major injuries or incursions into the passenger compartment.

@mbdionio - glad you & yours are safe. That’s the important part. The rest is just twisted metal.

Here’s my wife’s airbag deployment immediately after hitting a deer at 75mph in the #2 lane. You can actually see the inflator still glowing in there.

Airbags are a last chance effort to save you from traumatic injury - in this case, she needed such as the deer hit directly in front of her and rolled up the hood and actually hit the driver’s window. In this case, the risk of injury from the airbag is less than the risk of injury from the violent accident. It was the right call.

In your case, the SRS system figured with the angle and velocity of impact, that it was unnecessary. It also apparently made the right call.

Best of luck with the repair; this was $21k in damage. I’m expecting yours to be similar
- or more.

Looks like a reflection. I recently retired after 19 years as a firefighter downtown Seattle. I’ve seen multiple airbags deployed, arriving minutes after the accident. Never observed anything glowing.

 

[dmurphy]

Looks like a reflection. I recently retired after 19 years as a firefighter downtown Seattle. I’ve seen multiple airbags deployed, arriving minutes after the accident. Never observed anything glowing.

Entirely possible - I just assumed it was the inflator, but I'm sure you're right - you've got a ton more experience (well, so does my wife) with airbags than I do. Congratulations on your retirement, and thank you for your service!

I'm wondering how the hell a deer got on that highway...?

So many jokes about NJ, but we have a ton of wildlife. I'm about 25 miles due west of NYC, and in my little suburban neighborhood, I routinely wake up to deer, fox, coyote, bear, turkey, and a bunch more on my lawn ... There are sound barriers there but the deer routinely find their way around those. Just behind this photo is an onramp which of course means a break in the barrier.

Unfortunately for my wife, there was an SUV in the #2 lane and a big rig in the #4 lane coming up fast... she was sandwiched between them in #3. The deer ran out from the right, ahead of the big rig and she had absolutely no choice but to lock in and hit it head on. A swerve to either the left or right would've been disastrous - and given the common travel speed on that highway, possibly fatal. I don't know if I would've had the clarity of mine that she did - but it's a good reminder of how important situational awareness is - not just of what's in front of you, but behind and on each side.

The responding trooper said it was his 5th deer hit on Interstate 80 that day.

 

[valaeyron]

Exactly right. There were no serious injuries and no cabin incursion. Therefore, there was no failure to protect the occupant, therefore, no failure of the airbags. It's that simple.

+1 to this. Unless the facts are in dispute (like a clear photo of cabin intrusion or injuries that would indicate otherwise, not everything requires an investigation to confirm. Otherwise we’d be investigating investigations and nothing valuable would actually get done...gotta do other stuff in life and trust the systems worked as intended absent evidence otherwise...

 

[Stars_Fan]

Glad you're ok.

Shocked to hear Austin still has a PD

 

[jeremymc7]

Our model 3 saved our lives today. We got T-boned by a reckless driver trying to beat the red light.
Amazing engineering from Tesla. We were still able to drive home.

Looking for a Tesla certified body shop within the Austin area for estimates.

Feel for you. Been there. BUT MUCH WORSE. Cop's said any other car beside the Tesla and I would likely have died. I actually got footage from traffic cameras to use for lawyers and insurance and it shows the car attempting to avoid the accident. Sorry can't share. At least in my case insurance totaled car and I was reimbursed more than I paid (due to comp's), got state / utility rebates again, and got latest (updated) version of car.

Take care, stay safe, best of luck.

 

[jeremymc7]

Almost too bad the airbags "didn't delay" with my car and many other stories; when Tesla airbag's are delayed the car is just totaled. I've heard this TOO many times. Mine car was months old, nearly no miles, and they STILL totaled it.

 

[Twiglett]

glad you're both OK @mbdionio
Keep us posted on the progress and good luck with the repairs. The only upside is that there are a whole bunch of really good repair shops in this area.

 

[boiler81]

Did you get any TeslaCam video?
This would help in understanding the impact and I would think the car would record the impact force in it's black box, but Tesla would have to extract that data.

 

[jeremymc7]

I hope it recorded. Due to the impact and airbags my recordings weren’t on the drive for a min before the impact. Thank goodness for intersection and business cameras.