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Speed (MPH) needed to deploy Airbags on Model S?
- Thread starter earlyretirement
- Start date
boonedocks
MS LR Blk/Blk 19”
Test it out and let us know. Inquiring minds want to know. J/K.
On a side note I hit a deer at 55mph and sent that thing sailing through the wind like a batter hitting a home run. No airbags. Just hood and bumper cover replacement. Took forever and costly but no airbags...just cosmetic
On a side note I hit a deer at 55mph and sent that thing sailing through the wind like a batter hitting a home run. No airbags. Just hood and bumper cover replacement. Took forever and costly but no airbags...just cosmetic
Almost every car uses some combination of shock sensors. There is a central accelerometer in the crash/airbag controller, and panels have pressure sensors that measure the force of impact.
My steering wheel and driver footwell deployed at 5 mph during/after an accident where I rear ended a Ford Expedition. 1 week before AEB released....grrr. Safety first...can't complain about that.
AEB only active 7-27mph. So, at least that wouldn't have prevented your accident.
Thanks purduelion. This is the type of incident I was curious about. A few years ago I also hit an SUV from behind at very low speed. Probably 5 to 10 MPH at time of impact. Damage to their vehicle was very minor. Dented fender and broken tail light. We really weren't going that fast. I really barely felt anything. The crumble zone in my car absorbed it and the hood got dented.
No one was hurt at all after the accident. We just exchanged info and went on our way. Now 2 year later I get sued by the person stating they have major injuries and claiming we were going faster than we really were going.
There was barely any damage to her car and we weren't moving fast. The airbag in neither car went off. That's why I was just curious if there was a set speed it goes off at. Thanks for the excellent responses.
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Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
It is more about the deceleration rate rather than the overall speed of impact. There is accelerometer that will measure the G-force and depending on the force will determine if the airbags get triggered or not.
There was nothing but minor scratches to their vehicle. Most of the damage to my Model S was caused by their trailer hitch hitting me square in the "T" and riding up the hood about 6 inches and barley into the frunk. The trailer hitch won. As to AEB, I was likely going 10 MPH, I braked, slowed down to about 5, and made contact. It was in heavy traffic routing around another accident...i.e. Lots of confusion. In fact the cop already onsite and witnessed it issued no tickets. If I had AEB, I would be surprised if it wouldn't have activated. Life goes on and after 5 weeks I have my car back good as new and 17.17.17.
I didn't have AEB either as this was back in 2013. Yes, it took a LONG time to get my car repaired back then as there is only one authorized repair shop in San Diego. It was really cool to see Tesla's strip down to frame. They let me walk back and showed me. They had many, many being repaired.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Other's already pointed it out, but it's based on acceleration/forces rather than speed. Think of this situation: say you are going at 101mph and you tap into a car going at 100mph, very little deceleration. Airbags probably wouldn't deploy despite high speeds.
Then another situation: say you are at a stop and someone smashes into you at 50mph in your front, or you are going 10mph and you smash into a solid tree. Airbag probably will deploy despite low speeds.
Check the statutes of limitations, I know locally it's 2 years to sue someone for a car accident. So if he's over the 2 year mark, you may be in luck.
Also, the fact that the airbags didn't deploy or that it was a minor accident is irrelevant. You could be in a very minor accident, feel nothing after the accident, have no airbags deploying at low speeds and still suffer a concussion or other injuries and only realize the next day when you wake up. Why it'd take 2 years sue is beyond me, but the speed and damage to the car doesn't imply that the other party is faking their injuries.
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Rashomon
Member
There generally is no minimum speed, but an algorithm programmed into the airbag controller looks at the acceleration trace after some minimum acceleration or change of speed is reached. It has about 20ms to determine whether the acceleration of the vehicle is such that it looks like a collision is developing. Sometimes, when running into something with very concentrated loading, like a pole, the accelerations are relatively low compared to the overall change of speed, and the airbags won't deploy even though the change of speed is significant. Other times, say when hitting a flat wall that eventually breaks away, rapidly rising accelerations look like a serious crash, and the bags deploy though the actual event didn't live up to the initial accelerations. Remember, you only have 20ms to decide to deploy or not!
And, generally, you don't want the airbags going off. In crashes involving speed changes under 25 mph, you're more likely to be injured by the airbags than helped -- it's just that the system can't accurately judge that the collision isn't that great in the 20ms, and thus is programmed to deploy so it doesn't miss a high-speed crash. And it's the really high speed crashes with speed changes greater than 30 mph or so where the airbags are a benefit.
Hi there. I just had the same experience in P85D. I rear ended a vehicle at what i thought was 5 mph. Minimal damage to the car that i bumped and minimal damage to my front end. All four air bags went off. The one on the passenger side also shattered my windshield. While I am happy the car is safe, it is absurd for them to go off at such a slow speed. Was TESLA or their body shop able to fix the air bags and put back together the inside of the car perfectly? How much did that cost ?
Also, when the air bags went off, it shut down the computer system in the car so that the car was totally dead. Could not even get into the glove compartment to get my registration and insurance and the car was in Park when it shut off so towing was well....interesting. Not happy about that at all.
Look forward to hearing back from you.
Thanks in advance.
Hi! What a trip to read this, as this just happened to us in our P85D as well.... word for word what you wrote is EXACTLY what happened to us. Minimal damage except for all airbags and the shattering of our windshield on the passenger side. Towing was a nightmare and the service tech said he thought they would total out our car because of how expensive it would be to fix. The blue book on the car is more than $40k, so I doubt they will total it out.
Would love to hear how your situation was resolved. Was the body shop able to put it back together perfectly And how much did it cost?
Looking forward to your reply!
Hopeful in California
Hi Steve K: We just had the exact same experience word for word in your post from 2017 in our 2014 P85D. Wondering how your Tesla was repaired and if it was put back together perfectly and the cost??
Oh My gosh reading this post I feel like I wrote it myself. I have a 2014 model S P85D
And rear ended someone going but 6-7 mph
And had all the front airbags deploy and the passenger one broke the windshield. My airbag didn't even come in contact with me I was going so slow. This was so I necessary because it will add so much to the expense to get it repaired. The front end damage was only to the nose cone and a little into the hood.
The car completely shut down and had to be towed from the middle of the road.
I have filed a claim with Tesla over this. It doesn't say a lot for Tesla that a very minor bump like this causes damage of this magnitude. They say I won't have my car back for 4 months.
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