My pass side airbag just blew

[jettore]

WTF is going on with my luck lately. I was just driving home from work in the pouring rain here and I see the car in front of me swerve last minute to miss this giant piece of rubber I think. I go to do the same, but catch part of the side of it. It almost like a small ramp so my car goes over it no problem then drops down and a then I hear a big thump sound. I'm thinking I screwed up my car really bad and then I notice my airbag light on and my flashers going off. My passenger side airbag deployed. I pulled over where it was safe and my car looked fine except for the airbag. I checked it out in the garage and I don't see any damage to the car. Should the airbag of gone off from the car going over the debris. The car didn't scrap or bottom out or anything.

Anyone know how much a airbag is going to cost me?

I can't believe this happened. This is the second thing I have hit on the highway in the past 2 months after going 15 years with no problems. The first time I put a hole in the front bumper. The car is going in the shop in 2 weeks to get that fixed and now this. I think I need an SUV.

[M Roady]

That sucks.

Are you sure the rubber thing in the road didn't also put the hole in your bumper?

[fpa1974]

I am sorry to hear that...

Airbags are quite expensive. But I think your insurance should take care of it (minus your deductible).

Florian

[mattjw916]

I would call BMW of NA and complain. It is supposed to take a significant impact to cause the airbag to deploy. Obviously a sensor malfunctioned. Even if you car is out of warranty I would still complain... skipping the dealer entirely... and claim that you had a child in the front seat and he could have been injured by it deploying for no reason, blah, blah. I know it is embellishing a bit but I had an annoying window problem in my Honda S2000 that kept happening even after it was out of warranty so I called and complained about quality control, etc, etc and they ended replacing it for free with me only spending about 15 minutes of time talking to various Honda people.

Airbags are mad expensive to replace so I would try very hard to play the game and make BMW replace it and the sensors for free. My $0.02.

[ruffytdog]

Geez, how big was this rubber thing? Was it like an inch tall or a foot tall?

Once at an autox, I saw a E36 3 series convertible hit a cone in a turn, and it caused the roll bar to pop up. But no airbag....

I would try to get insurance to cover this. If not, I think BMW should cover this. What if someone was sitting in the passenger seat? It could've uneccesarily hurt someone.

Mike

[jettore]

It was a big chunk of what looked like rubber (raining pretty hard) maybe 1' x 3'. The part I went over was probably about 3" high and I was going around 40 mph. The car came down hard. I just check out the car again and I don't see any damagae anywhere. I have a $500 ded on insurance, so I don't know if I'll claim this.

What do you guys think, should I go to the dealer tomorrow?

[midlifecrisis]

jettore,

sorry about your loss and good to know you're not hurt.
almost two weeks ago I drove over a rock that I thought was small but in fact it wasn't. I broke my x-brace but no air bag deployed. The point being, bottoming out didn't deploy anything in my case and the impact was pretty significant...enough to break my x-brace.
So your airbag may not have been properly installed if it deployed that easily. Maybe you can try probing the dealer and talk firmly but politely to see if the dealer would buy into it? Goodluck.

[viper501]

Definitely get BMW NA on the line. Bag should not have deployed. They will be interested in disecting the failure cause of that item. If they aren't, I'd contact NHTSA and every other federal alphabet soup you can think of and start writing them letters. I'd also seriously consider an attorney for a product's liability claim, presuming they are uncooperative.

[jettore]

What do you guys think the dealer will say about my aftermarket suspension and wheels? I'm running 18's with H&R springs. I was thinking about it and that might be their easy way out of not covering it.

[viper501]

What do you guys think the dealer will say about my aftermarket suspension and wheels? I'm running 18's with H&R springs. I was thinking about it and that might be their easy way out of not covering it.

I believe it is the aftermarket position that pursuant to federal statute the manufacturer has the burden of proving that your aftermarket accessory/ mod was the cause of the failure, not the reverse where you have to prove it didn't cause the failure.

Frankly, it sounds like a sensor failed to me. Considering how, relatively, new your car is, it shouldn't have such a failure. I know Mazda did a big recall over the same type of problem on the 95 Miatas. They had a habit of blowing both bags after an off-road excursion.

However, why don't you just swap out the stock wheels for now ...

[midlifecrisis]

jettore: one obvious thing that comes to mind is if the dealer will be ridiculous enough to claim that your clearance is less because of your suspension hence you hit the rubber instead of just going over it clean. Its a ridiculous thought but hey, dealers are ridiculous people. Just something to keep in mind.
Other than that, if they can't prove anything reasonable you can complain to the Federal Trade Commission...it will be an arduous process but no one wants the FTC on their heels and they don't want bad business... that's for sure. Also, threatening them won't work...it would create bad blood. If you really have solid ground for the FTC action, just drop the name casually in a non threatening manner...if they listen up, well and good, if they become aggressive, just head back home, and read up the FTC rules on aftermarket parts and file a complain.

[phrider]

Just to be sure, get an alignment check, too -- so that can be part of the insurance claim.

[Hugo]

Jackpot! Lawsuit, baby!!!

[loktin]

If you still have the stock parts lying around (rims/suspension) I would recommend that you put them back on before you file any claims. BMW specifically states that any modifications to the car with non designated BMW parts will void any warranties and/or responsibilities. Its on our windshield. :

Also car manufacturers are especially anal about aftermarket suspension on cars with ASC or other similar technology. What we see as improvements, they see as asking for trouble.

Its unfortunate, but having a lowered car with large wheels with less rubber makes your case just that much weaker. Good luck.

[midlifecrisis]

FYI..that sticker means crap so don't go just by that. In the US of A courts of law are not completely taken over yet...so there is still some justice. By preventing aftermarket parts car manufacturers essentially try to reduce competition...the govt. no matter how crappy it is, dislikes monopolies in theory and sometimes in practice...so aftermarket parts increase competition and can't be prevented from being used in new cars. The onus is on manufacturers and dealers to show that the aftermarket part caused failure. A strut bar doesn't cause computer failure...and can't be cited as a reason for it. In jettore's case, suspension CAN be a reason for low clearance hence the situation is dicey...but a blanket statement against aftermarket part usage is not true.

[loktin]

I'm sorry to say but the negativity towards aftermarket parts either by cops, court, or the government are the direct repercussions of films and culture such as the fast and the furious.

Do I think a judge would care about the monopoly BMW holds over, lets say, Ground Control in the aftermarket world? No, I honestly don't.

But do I think that a judge believe a modded car is more dangerous on the road than a stock car? Yes, I do. Why? Because I once asked a cop who was writing me a ticket why cops have to harass modded vehicles, he said, "Most accidents are caused by street racing with modified vehicles; we're trying to make the streets safer."

When BMW tells the judge that the stiffer suspension and larger wheels installed by the owner caused excessive dynamic force blah blah blah blah to the computer sensor yada yada and that the modded car was no longer within BMW's safety specs, the judge will listen, period. The sticker does mean something, its a disclaimer to protect BMW in cases like these ones.

But if you find other M coupe owners that experienced the same thing, then its time to jack to the pot.

[killeen_john]

Isn't there a passenger occupancy sensor in the seat used to determine how the passenger air bag deploys? It sounds to me like something malfunctioned because I always thought that the air bag would not deploy unless there was a predetermined amount of weight against the seat sensor. How could it not be a malfunction if only one air bag deployed?

Did the pyro seat belt thing go off too?

[JoeZ]

Isn't there a passenger occupancy sensor in the seat used to determine how the passenger air bag deploys? It sounds to me like something malfunctioned because I always thought that the air bag would not deploy unless there was a predetermined amount of weight against the seat sensor. How could it not be a malfunction if only one air bag deployed?

Did the pyro seat belt thing go off too?

That was a feature introduced in later Z3's, I'm not sure what year jettore's car is but it is possible that he does not have this.

[jettore]

JoeZ, I have a 2001 model. I completely forgot about the seat sensor. Is the airbag not supposed to deploy unless there is a passenger?

Well, for an update I dropped of the car at the dealer today. I'm waiting for a call back.

[jettore]

What is the pyro seat belt thing? Never heard of it.

[JoeZ]

I thought it was a 2 stage system that deployed w/ more force if you were going faster, not sure about not deploying if nobody's in the seat.

[phrider]

What is the pyro seat belt thing? Never heard of it.

It pulls the seat belt tighter during a crash. It is attached to the short buckle end of the seat belt, adjacent to the center console.

[JonM]

Similar thing happened to a 99 M coupe on a drive thru Angeles Crest back in 2000. He hit a rock in the road. Hit the undercarriage just right. Boom. Both aribags deployed. When his went off, the windshield cracked too.