cthronson

A friend just called me after rear-ending a car parked illegally in the middle of the road around a blind corner. She was driving a 2005 CS.

She hit the car going at least 35 m.p.h., smashed in the entire front of the CS, with no airbag deployment. I don't think it was an offset frontal collision. Fortunately she had her seatbelt on, but needless to say she was upset, to put it mildly.

Anyone hear of airbag non-deployment issues with the CS?

bancu

I think there was a NHTSA report(s) on this. The take was that the airbag would not deploy for lower speed (whatever that is) impacts if seat beats were in use.

Has your friend ever had a air bag deploy on them? I've seen folks that had seat belts on in lower speed accidents and I've wondered if they didn't come out worse because of early generation air bag deployment.

Ultimately this may be related to Porsche's _non_truth in advertizing. Porsche advertized (even put it on the window sicker) that the Cayenne had dual stage air bags. Later they came out and said that the air bags were not dual stage. Not a good thing in general and even worse for those of us with petite passengers.

007GT3

a friend of mine t-boned a large buck as it crossed the road. My friend was in her cayenne doing 45/50 mph. no airbag deployment. Deer was KIA and front clip was replaced.

Cpa4S

i think that perhaps your friend has never had an air bag blow up in her face before.

the seat belts sound like they did what they were supposed to do, why on earth would she also want a bruised up face etc?

MadFox

Sorry, I'm in agreement with the general consensus here. I would guess that she did NOT have a 35 mph collision.. she probably hit the brakes at least for some period of time.. thus starting a deceleration (panic stomp on some of the finest brakes on any SUV anywhere and you will have some serious deceleration) that reduced the forward motion to the point that the accelerometer in the vehicle didn't detect enough force to fire the airbag. You make no mention of her injuries (can you tell us?) but I would wager that she has a nasty bruise across her shoulder and/or breasts.. and perhaps some bruising across her abdomen.. but like the others have said.. had the airbag deployed.. she could have lacerations on her face.. severe headaches and a broken arm or some broken ribs.. these are perfectly acceptable injuries in a high G crash where a broken neck results in death.. but believe me (personal knowledge) an airbag deployment is low on my list of things to do.

ltc

Glad to hear there were no serious injuries.

FWIW, I see lawsuit written all over this.

FWIW#2, watch the video of a 35mph sled test and consider basilar skull fracture, as a 3 point will NOT restrain your head, hence the need for an airbag when NOT wearing a H&N restraint.

What we need here is someone who is an engineer/lawyer and who is familiar with the design/manufacture of Porsche vehicles and systems and who is not particularly fond of PCNA........if only there were such a person.

MadFox

If Point 1. is true, then there is no basis for Point 2. If Point 3 happened then Point 4 would be Larry... but he's dead. Summation from a entrepreneur (but I play a lawyer in biz all the time). Accident was slower than female driver thought it was. No mention of serious injuries (However I've asked for clarification), thus no need for Larry to be raised from the dead. Besides, he can only do so .... hmmmm, once a quarter?

Shamus

A collegue of mine fractured his wrist last week when the airbag deployed in a lowspeed crash.

bancu

There was a guy several years back that lost him arm after a side impact in an Mercedes where the side air bag did not deploy. He did end up winning a chuck of change from MB.

Excellent point on the basilar. Would the front air bag cover that or would it require deployment of the side air bag?

I've seen the same injures that other folks are describing from air bag deployments. That's the reason I look for vehicles with dual stage air bags. To head off injuries on all fronts it seems to be that sweet scope for legal action would be on behalf of all the folks that bought a Cayenne under the advertised premise that it had 'in class' dual stage air bags that were available in other high end SUVs at the time.

ltc

Always raining on my parade....that's OK.....my new pajamas are waterproof.

If we do dig up Larry, we should have him stuffed, although there may be an issue in getting his middle finger back to a 'normal' position.

Now for the $64,000 question........will PCNA admit that the Cayenne has an event data recorder (little black box) that recorded the last 20 seconds leading up to the accident

MadFox

Not raining on your parade... because I still control the Purplesaurus Rex inflow to the villa and your PJ'S!

But, Yes to the EDR... because this guy's female friend is apparently going to find a "good" lawyer!

ChipAZ

Having the air bag deploy is like getting hit in the face by Mike Tyson.

DJB

Hang on... LTC are your suggesting that the Cayenne may have a black box recorder (thingy) in it. And this has never been disclosed to owners?

99firehawk

if she walked away from it then shed didnt need the air bags, really the car is smart enough to know if they are needed. IF she didnt get hurt any way she should feel very glad . air bag deployments are not enjoyable


remeber that you are crasching 2 5000lb hunks of moving steel into each other that isnt the mfgs fault................. good luck with the lawyer

99firehawk

My understaing is all mfgs have this ,