Side airbag accidental deployment

[BlueSteelCA]

Last week I was driving home and I swerved quickly to avoid a deer starting to jump into the road. I went about a foot over the line and never hit anything, but as I was coming back to the center of the lane both side airbags deployed, and the car shut down completely and had to be towed out. No body damage whatsoever except for a 1.5 inch x 2 mm nick in the battery cover plate.
Has anyone heard of anything like this happening or can think of a reason this would have happened? I have also had a lot of sensor issues with the car prior to this, such as the car not registering that I’m out of it and climate controls not functioning correctly.

 

[David.85D]

How’d you get a “nick” in the battery cover if you didn’t hit anything?

To your question, it’s the first I can recall.

Seems physically impossible to get the de/accelerations needed to trigger the airbag without interacting with something else - did you go over the curb? Run over some debris?

 

[OrbiterTI4]

For my 2018 collision, the side airbags didn't deploy, but the timing and speed for the driver steering wheel / knee airbag deployment has always left me skeptical of the deployment system. In that event, I was braking so the impact speed happened with the Tesla below 20 mph; the airbags then deployed a second or two after the vehicle was at a complete stop (I distinctly remember stopping, thinking a couple of choice words about the other driver to myself after the impact and then a BOOM in my face.

Battery cover-wise, my wife drove over a loose piece of street curbing that gouged a long line in the battery cover with no airbag impacts. As such I would be surprised if that damage had anything to do with your deployment.

 

[ThomasD]

GM has also had this issue
www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-defects/chevrolet-gmc-truck-recall-airbags-can-deploy-without-crash-a9306741095/

 

[dannycamps]

I distinctly remember stopping, thinking a couple of choice words about the other driver to myself after the impact and then a BOOM in my face

 

[BlueSteelCA]

To be clear, I didn’t crash into anything. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but there may have been a small rock that stuck the bottom of my car when I went one tire onto the dirt for a moment. It certainly did not feel like anything struck the car with force. I have had someone back into my car, no airbag deployment and had a rock get kicked up on the freeway and hit my hood and windshield at 70 mph no deployment. Body shop says there is no way this should have cause airbag deployment.

 

[BlueSteelCA]

How’d you get a “nick” in the battery cover if you didn’t hit anything?

To your question, it’s the first I can recall.

Seems physically impossible to get the de/accelerations needed to trigger the airbag without interacting with something else - did you go over the curb? Run over some debris?

The nick also could have come from some
Other off-roading adventures I have been on. I’ve taken the model S to some pretty interesting spot out here in Nevada County rebar Tahoe and it’s held up amazing, always been impressed with where it can go. This came as a huge surprise to me

 

[David.85D]

I don’t see a reason…. Both these incidents should be reported to nhtsb. False or late deployments are both problems…. People have posted the link previously

Pretty good article here describing how the airbag module can be fooled into thinking there was a rollover. Makes more sense than a false high G reading.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/honda-odyssey-minivan-airbags-1.4414865

 

[oktane]

Doesn't Tesla use AI to determine airbag sequence/deployment?

Probably just the computer thought you were about to crash so decided to fire the bags.

I've seen it happen on Mustangs around the track.

 

[David.85D]

And the age of blaming the AI begins…