Airbags do not deploy due to speed. They deploy from deceleration speeds. Your impact did not meet the criteria. Be thankful.

The airbag accelerometer for most vehicles is under the seat. It also triggers the explosive seat belt pretensioners. It’s like a little ball bearing inside a tight metal tube. In a crash of sufficient force, the little metal ball is forced down the tube and completes the electrical circuit to fire the charges in the airbags and seat belts. The G threshold is VERY high.

It sounds like it performed properly. 33 mph striking a car would not generate a sufficient G load to fire the sensor.

33 mph into a wall, tree, or other immoveable object would. But a car is lighter, and the kinetic energy is disapated more slowly due to the other car being pushed out of the way. The Delta V is far slower than a fixed object.

Anonymous wrote:Umm op just won like 50 million dollars no?

This is a major f up. Get an attorney now!

Op here. I’m not looking to sue and I’m not looking to get paid or looking for any extras; I was not hurt. I just want to know if the airbags were faulty or not. If so, I’ll go buy another car but i have a conscious and don’t want to trade in my car if it’s a defect and pass along to someone else my family included if I keep it. I was just wondering if they were, who should I notify so they are aware of the problem and hopefully fix and notate. My car is not totaled so if they weren’t faulty, (which it sounds like they are not) I’ll keep my car.

My take away is that there is no real cut and dry answer or threshold to know if they should have deployed. Let’s hope for the best.
Thanks everyone with the pointers! Stay safe!

Anonymous wrote:Umm op just won like 50 million dollars no?

This is a major f up. Get an attorney now!

No it’s not. They’re designed to go off in certain situations, this one must not have met the qualifications.

Umm op just won like 50 million dollars no?

This is a major f up. Get an attorney now!

Anonymous wrote:I’d be thankful. Airbags can cause a lot of harm if they weren’t needed in the crash (and sounds like yours weren’t needed this time).

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You do not have to "hit the sensors perfectly" for the airbag to deploy. The sensors are measuring longitudinal and lateral acceleration and the airbags deploy based on a threshold predicted deceleration (in other words, the sensor is trying to predict how severe the crash will be based on the initial crush of the vehicle structure). If OP hit the side of a smaller car, the predicted severity for the 4runner might have been lower than the threshold severity. That said, if you really think the airbags didn't deploy and should have, the right place to file the complaint is with NHTSA: https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

Right, but how are we supposed to know whether airbags should have deployed but didn't?

One clue is that the OP said no injuries except soreness. That is a pretty good indication that an airbag wasn't needed to prevent serious injuries.

Airbags add energy into the crash. That extra energy is needed in serious crashes to help prevent serious injuries but you don't really want airbags to deploy if they aren't needed. Airbag deployment algorithms are a lot more sophisticated than they used to be to help prevent unnecessary deployments (which can lead to issues too).

Anonymous wrote:They should have deployed at 33 mph right? I hit her back panel on her passenger side? Her airbags deployed.

Do an experiment: run nto a crown and hit a person smaller than you, preferably a child. Then run into a concrete wall. Reflect on your experiences. Report back.