tifosiv122

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2459148056

Notice something?

The airbags didn't open...

Erik

moomeh

that's a good thing the air bags did not. it'll cost even more to repair.....

victor20170

That kind of worries me as well... Probably the person wasn't going that fast

levelr123g

the air bags didnt go off because the impact was not great enough. just because the front end is hit doe NOT mena he bags will go off. you need to have a great deceleration rate in order to trigger them.

Sincity

Ditto. Air Bags are designed to deploy on rate of deceleration. The faster the car stops.....the faster your body is moving forward and thus deployment needed.

Not worth buying unless you own a shop and you can get a great deal on a full front clip. I'd suspect a full front clip will run atleast $5k and 40 hours body labor and 12 hours paint and material time. You can buy a new one after all that is figured in.

vadim

It's all about the velocity *and* the angle at which the impact occured. Judging by the degree of damage, it was a low-speed collision at a certain angle (probably 5 to 15 degrees). In this case, if the airbags went off, they would have hurt the driver/passenger more that they would have helped them. Don't forget - they hit you hard, like a good punch in the face. Their purpose is to save your life by preventing hitting the hard parts in front of you.

tifosiv122

Maybe it's me, but if it's enough damage to total a 2003 car then I think the bag's should have opened.

It was a front end collision and the damage got into the engine bay...

Erik

Guest0001

I dont think there is anything to worry about. If one thing MB is EXTREMELY careful in is safety. Like everyone said it was a low speed crash and probably not hit as hard as we think. Vadim good point in his post. The angle would have a lot to do with it along with the speed.

vadim

One of my previous cars was totalled by getting rearended on a highway. I am glad the airbags didn't go off, as they would not have done anything useful for me. Airbags are *not* pillows filled with goose down. I wish you would never have an accident where their deployment would be necessary.

Most modern cars have very soft crumple zones that are designed to absorb the energy of an impact to save the occupants, which often can result in very expensive repairs. The price you pay for your safety is deformation of your vehicle. If that alone is not enough to save your life - only then the airbags go off.

A few years ago I read a story about a head-on collision of an old Ford Crown Victoria with a Japanese compact sedan. The Japanese car was totally destroyed, whereas the CV stayed almost intact - at least on the outside. But - the driver of the Japanese car walked away from the scene, whereas the driver of the Ford got killed: his neck snapped. That was because the Crown Victoria wasn't designed to absorb the energy of the impact - it transferred it all to the driver, as opposed to the Japanese car.

Sincity

That is right, Vadim. It is about a 15 degree deflection from the front. I forgot about that!

FrankW

I see what you are saying, but from the look of it in the picture. The car probably wasn't going at high rate of speed when it hit. Like Vadim said added that the part that got hit is basically the weakest part of the front end. i.e. headlight, so the damages will look worse than if it got hit in the bumper at the same rate of speed.

Rick

Actually, it looks like that car was beaten with a blunt object....possibly a lovers quarrel (with a baseball bat?) Airbags dont deploy if the car is parked...

That might explain why the owner doesn't want it repaired.

tommy

Contact Steve - these are a Euro-only option that he can retrofit for you. :p

vadim

I'm not *that* much into modding - leave it to Sunman

Steve Clark

it sacrificed itself for the occupant(s).I'll bet there were minor or,more likely,no injuries in the C32.

Steve Clark

make that a C230.Old habits are hard to break.

trench

This was my thought, the damage is consistent with being hit while parked by the side of the road.

mctwin2kman

Also if the hood went under the bumper of what it hit then that damage would occur and most likely no airbag deployment. Trucks cause this kind of damage, so when braking and the nose dives, and goes under the higher truck bumper, the car does not come to such an abrupt stop and thus the airbags do not deploy. It takes two sensors to fire simultaniously for the airbags to deploy, always the center and at least one of the two front ones. The sensors are a gold plated ball bearing on two rails, the rails are elevated like a hill. The ball goes up the hill and falls over the edge to make the two contacts on the bottom connect. The ball has to roll over the edge for the sensor to send the signal to the air bag controller. Once they have tripped there is no resetting. One sensor in this case could have fired, but remember the center and the front need to go at the same exact time in order for the airbags to deploy. SO if the front went first then the center you get no deployment.

Sponger

dang, hopefully that didn't happen to anyone in this forum.