[Born before the internet]

The Ascent was our 5 subaru and we always stuck with them because of safety especially carting around a family. Luckily we’ve only had one other accident in a wrx and everyone was fine. Today my wife was T-boned driver side by a pickup pulling a landscaping trailer. She is ok, just banged up. They ran a red and hit full on the fender and door. For anyone who’s been in an accident, they say the seconds leading up to seem to go in slow motion. She clutched the wheel knowing what’s going to happen and kind of bracing for the airbag to go off. It didn’t and slammed her head on the side. That’s super scary. She was riding solo but it’s usually our family vehicle. I did a search and found another ascent Tboned and side curtain didn’t go off. Is this a known issue?

 

[packout]

Glad to hear she was not seriously hurt. It is certainly a concern when a airbag doe snot deploy as designed. We all know that airbags are engineered to deploy when sufficient force is applied to a particular area. I do not know if such force was present. from IIHS: side air bags deployment.

I would want some specialist to determine why the side bags did not deploy. Angle of impact, speed, defect in sensor?

 

[Born before the internet]

We are going to retrieve the red light camera footage and hopefully that will help determine. The door can’t open and is pretty dented up and the front wheel is jammed under the car. Yes, super happy she wasn’t seriously hurt.

 

[packout]

We are going to retrieve the red light camera footage and hopefully that will help determine. The door can’t open and is pretty dented up and the front wheel is jammed under the car. Yes, super happy she wasn’t seriously hurt.

I would encourage getting Subaru of America involved before the vehicle is destroyed to account for the non-deployment.

 

[packout]

We are going to retrieve the red light camera footage and hopefully that will help determine. The door can’t open and is pretty dented up and the front wheel is jammed under the car. Yes, super happy she wasn’t seriously hurt.

I wonder what the level of self diagnostics exist for the airbags. The monthly on-line report has a line item for airbags but simply refers to the indicator light.


" Airbag System
The Airbag System light indicates there might be a potential problem with your vehicle's Supplemental Restraint System, which includes the airbags and seatbelts. For your safety, we recommend a full system check. Please contact your Subaru Retailer right away."

 

[packout]

We are going to retrieve the red light camera footage and hopefully that will help determine. The door can’t open and is pretty dented up and the front wheel is jammed under the car. Yes, super happy she wasn’t seriously hurt.

I'm certain all Ascent owners and SOA would like an explanatin as to why the bags did not deploy. Given that level of damage in the drivers corner and side, I would have hoped that it would. My hope and assumption had been that anything from a direct side impact to an offset hit on the corner would trigger the airbags because the type of hit would generate head movement to the side.

Just for further support I would also encourage a report to NHTSA so they can keep track of this. Hopeful this is a one off (regardless - no benefit to your family at this point). The more technical eyes on this the better for everyone including Subaru. Any photos?

 

[packout]

The Ascent was our 5 subaru and we always stuck with them because of safety especially carting around a family. Luckily we’ve only had one other accident in a wrx and everyone was fine. Today my wife was T-boned driver side by a pickup pulling a landscaping trailer. She is ok, just banged up. They ran a red and hit full on the fender and door. For anyone who’s been in an accident, they say the seconds leading up to seem to go in slow motion. She clutched the wheel knowing what’s going to happen and kind of bracing for the airbag to go off. It didn’t and slammed her head on the side. That’s super scary. She was riding solo but it’s usually our family vehicle. I did a search and found another ascent Tboned and side curtain didn’t go off. Is this a known issue?

what year Ascent is this? did the crash initiate a call to the emergency call center? automatic notification either all ready exists or is about to be implemented in Subarus. I thought it already exists.

We hope to expand our AACN features even further. We have plans to improve the information precision of our AACN to push up lifesaving rates in accidents: for example, by reporting the number of passengers in the car, by linking with EyeSight to report on pedestrian involvement, or by using the Driver Monitoring System (DMS) to judge and report if the driver is acutely ill.

 

[Ruben Marin]

I believe one of the impact sensors for the side impact is in the b-pillar between the doors.

 

[Titanrx8]

Happy she wasn't seriously injured.

Scenarios where bags won't deploy include not wearing seat belt, very light passenger, seat very far forward.

 

[packout]

I believe one of the impact sensors for the side impact is in the b-pillar between the doors.

so the question would be, how far forward of the sensor location would an impact need to be in order for the sensor to no longer trigger the deployment (impact forces being equal to a 90 degree hit)?

 

[Ruben Marin]

so the question would be, how far forward of the sensor location would an impact need to be in order for the sensor to no longer trigger the deployment (impact forces being equal to a 90 degree hit)?

I believe it requires a direct hit to the sensor, unless some other speed/GForce requirements also can trigger them independent of the impact sensor.

 

[xydadx3]

There are so many factors involved all we can do is speculate here and be thankful for no serious injuries.
This is exactly why I recommend having both a forward facing and rear facing dash cam on the front windshield. Having video to show the impact outside and occupant position/ status inside is priceless.

 

[packout]

I believe it requires a direct hit to the sensor, unless some other speed/GForce requirements also can trigger them independent of the impact sensor.

If the limitation criteria is in fact a direct hit, that would be very unfortunate since so many impacts are near a corner. Both of these types of impacts would force the head sideways with a potential glass impact. I would like to learn more on this.

 

[Ruben Marin]

If the limitation criteria is in fact a direct hit, that would be very unfortunate since so many impacts are near a corner. Both of these types of impacts would force the head sideways with a potential glass impact. I would like to learn more on this.

Corners also have the most structure to absorb impacts on a vehicle. It should be remembered airbags are explosive devices, if they don't deploy there is in all likelihood a good reason.

 

[packout]

Corners also have the most structure to absorb impacts on a vehicle. It should be remembered airbags are explosive devices, if they don't deploy there is in all likelihood a good reason.

Understood. This is why I am trying to determine the details involved. A side airbag is supposed to deploy when less impact than a frontal crash is involved due to the smaller space between the occupant and the autobody. Designers also replaced the toxic material in the bags and changed the velocity of the deployment. I assume the curtain bags deploy down so the explosion should have less of an negative impact compared to the steering wheel deployment.

 

[Luis Padilla]

Would like to see a real world answer to this incident from Subaru

 

[Ruben Marin]

Reader's Choice: Why Didn't the Airbags Deploy?

What makes airbags deploy in a collision is many times much different than people think. There are many reasons for them not to deploy in a crash, but one reason they do is the Delta-v, or a sudden change in velocity.

www.bodyshopbusiness.com

The ecu determined they weren't needed, or were more likely to be a danger to the driver...if you expect a statement from Subaru get your lawn chair and popcorn...its gonna be a while. Or email them and ask.

 

[TheRaven]

Reader's Choice: Why Didn't the Airbags Deploy?

What makes airbags deploy in a collision is many times much different than people think. There are many reasons for them not to deploy in a crash, but one reason they do is the Delta-v, or a sudden change in velocity.

www.bodyshopbusiness.com

The ecu determined they weren't needed, or were more likely to be a danger to the driver...if you expect a statement from Subaru get your lawn chair and popcorn...its gonna be a while. Or email them and ask.

Interesting read, thanks for posting that.

 

[packout]

Interesting read, thanks for posting that.

The curtain airbag may not have deployed due to the effectiveness of the crush / crumble zones. It still is a bit of a mystery to me since there was a good amount of head movement. I always adjust my headrest accordingly, but that only addresses the front / back movement, not side to side. I guess there is not system that is perfect.

What about this?

"You also now know that when you see a car with major crush occurring, those crush and crumple zones absorbed enough of the crash energy to not cause a high enough Delta-v to trigger the airbags. Remember, the angles too may cause a system to not deploy. Front-impact airbags require a Delta-v in forward momentum to deploy. "

 

[Ruben Marin]

Also, the part describing the intention/purpose of airbags are to protect internal organs from rapid changes in velocity, not necessarily superficial injuries.