from what i can see from this crash, i think the airbags should have deployed, there have been cases where the airbags will not deploy due to a fault on the manfactureres end, for that particular one car, and even in some cases, sealbelts (even properly worn) have killed people, id say romanmojica that you were very lucky, but should not give up hope for the 3, i understand your consern and are glad that you and your wife are in an ok condition.

 

That's the problem Tracker, you can't see G-forces. You can't see the dynamics of the crash. Yes, his car is seriously wrecked, so what......The occupant cabin isn't even close to compromised, and the loads were concentrated on a small cross-sectional area of the vehicle. I don't know how accident investigation works in the Phillipines, but here in the US, if a problem is suspected in the system, the information from the RCM can be downloaded to see exactly the forces incurred during the accident.

Provide links to these cases of airbags not properly deploying (and not just a person stating "it should have deployed"), or of seatbelts not working properly (which means the mechanism doesn't lock-up during impact.) I'm a quality engineer, and I have worked with airbags/safety systems for the last 7 years.

And yes, it is still possible to get killed in a car even with airbags and seatbelts depending upon the crash. So long as people are behind the wheel, traffic fatalities will never be eliminated. Safety systems today are meant to lessen the severity of the injuries sustained in a crash. They work together as a system to provide the appropriate amount of restraint for the conditions of the crash.

I, most likely, will sustain injuries BECAUSE of my airbags. I drive one-handed most of the time with my left hand at about the 12 o'clock position. If my hand is in this position when I get into a crash and the airbag deploys, I'm most likely going to punch myself in the face at a couple hundred miles per hour, or sustain some forearm injuries as my arm will be across the bag trajectory.....I'd prefer to avoid that if possible, and some impacts (although they may LOOK severe) don't warrant full deployment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad no one was seriously injured in this accident, but I don't see how the airbags would have lessened any of the injuries sustained. The fact that no one was seriously injured points to the SAFETY of this vehicle if anything....For the passenger to have hit the IP, they HAD to have not been properly restrained (too much slack in the seatbelts allowing the occupant to move forward in the seat during impact.)

 

i have no stories of airbags or seatbelts not working in a crash on a current car, but i only have two stories one from my mother and another from a friend. The one my mother told me was a WHILE back in her old car she was hit in a intersection the guy ran a red light and hit her from the passenger side fender going 55, needless to say the car was considered totaled, but when she was hit her airbags deployed at the right time and but the seatbelt lock up, and she suffered severe neck and back injuries, and the other story my friend told me was he was driving his car with someother girl and guy and he took the turn on a offramp way too fast and flipped his car my friend airbag and seatbelt worked fine while his friend in the passenger seat's airbag did not deploy and was thrown out the back window, and the girl in the back seat did not have a seatbelt on but sustained very little injury as a matter of fact everybody sustained only cuts and bumps, only one broke arm from the driver, that car was also wrecked, none of these cars are Mazda, but actually my mother has gotten into numerous accidents with current (04 maxima) and i could ask her when she got hit how fast was the other person going etc. All romanmojica is trying to say is that even though the accident looks bad but happened at a low speed his consern is over weather or not if he gets into another collision possibly at a higher speed will the airbags deploy that time, i guess hes just a little sketchy after the accident and wants to know if the car responded in the right way. (just my guess)

 

So.....it was a side-impact, the front impact airbags had little to no effect for that impact, the speed of the impact set of the bags in that one (55 mph is one hell of an impact, cars are designed to Fed Req't @ 35 mph, NHTSA tests to 40 mph)....The seatbelt is supposed to lock up to prevent the webbing from reeling out of the retractor during impact. There are sensors in the retractors that sense the angle of the retractor with respect to the ground, and the speed at which the webbing is paying out of the retractor, and the lateral g's being applied to the vehicle. These combine to lock-up the belt in the proper conditions. In some impacts you will always be hurt (side impacts are significantly lessened with side impact and head side curtain airbags.....You can see this in the latest NHTSA side-impact rating scores, you can't get anything above Poor in the side impact test without Side Impact & Head Curtain airbags.)

So.....the driver's side all systems functioned properly, the guy in the passenger seat wasn't wearing his seatbelt (not the fault of the belt) and was ejected (out the back window away from the airbag), and the girl in the backseat got REALLLL lucky. Also not a fault in the seatbelt/safety systems.

And all I'm saying is that the systems are designed to deploy when necessary, it's most probable that the system is functioning as normal and will deploy if the conditions of the accident warrant it. If the system isn't working properly, there are airbag codes that trip and set off warning lights that the system isn't working properly. Given the nature of the injuries in this impact, and the type of crash, it doesn't seem to me that the airbags needed to deploy. (given my 7 years of automotive restraints experience)

 

You are right, very few wear seat belts correctly.. which comes to my point of having those air bags deploy as an added pre-caution.

 

Well hopefully your car will def. be totaled...usually when they are that bad they tend to never drive the same again...As for me, I crashed once in my mazda 6i and I was driving maybe 50 mph, lost control and hit the Jersey barrier. My drivers side airbag went off and it prevented me from slamming my head. The passenger side did not but there was no one else in the car...The sensors detect everything. I was shoocken up and I sat in the car for 10 minutes cause I felt like i Was going to puke, but I walked out and was all upset because I only had the car for 3-4 days...Not nearly the amount of damage that you had. I am a 4th year mechanical engineer student and I will be doing it for another 1.5 years beacuse I am also doing a minor in business. There are multple chips throughout the car that are called accellorometers. They measure g-forces, if the car is sideways, front end higher than the rear end and they all go to the computer. They measure everything and calculate everythinf and the computer may have determined the airbags didn't need to be deployed. Without the "snap shop" mechanism it is all here-say. I am greateful you and your wife are okay...

 

ok this has gone from being conserned about the driver and his wife, to me feeling like im in school except im learning important things, i never guessed what went into testing and the behavior of safety systems, i just thought that if you get into a accident more serious then a fender bender the airbags deploy....learn something new everyday. And sstlaure i hope you dont think im trying to challenge your 7yrs of exp, in this line of work.

 

sorry tracker. didn't mean for you to take it that way. just helping our friend.

 

TRACKER.....No offense taken. Just trying to clear up the differences between perception and fact.

I think it's important for people to understand how these systems work. People don't realize how much $$$ goes into the development of the safety systems in a car. We have to do a TON of work to avoid incorrect deployments (deploying when you don't want it to....like slamming the door hard, or hammering on the car with the battery still hooked up, etc....)

These systems are seriously complex and become even more complex every day. Seat track position sensors to detect how close you are sitting to the steering wheel, weight sensing systems that detect the size of the occupant in the pass. seat, up to 6 different airbags in each vehicle, sensors that determine whether you seatbelt is buckled or not, not to mention pyrotechnic pre-tensioners that cinch up your seat belt during impact. (not just lock-up, but actually tighten.) All of these systems take tons of time and $$$ to develop, and with each system you add, you add the possibility of "unexpected" performance. We spare almost no expense to make sure that these systems are as safe and effective as they can possibly be.

For example, a number of years back...8 to be exact, I was working for a seat supplier as a design engineer. One of my programs (a fairly small one) had a testing budget of $1.8 Million. This wasn't to develop a full seat, just to test a small portion within the seat that was changing due to the addition of the ISOFIX child safety tethers.

These systems and the development costs involved are one of the big reasons why an entry level car is $15K today.

I see plenty of posts where people start to bad-mouth the vehicles performance, when it's really that they just don't understand how these systems work.

ROMANMOJICA......I hope my explanation above helps you understand why airbags don't deploy in all accidents, and that it stresses wearing your seatbelt properly. I'm sorry for your wife's injuries, it's never easy to see the one's we love in pain, especially when it's avoidable. I hope she recovers quickly. Neither of you should have hit the steering wheel/IP if your belts had been tight. A vast majority of auto injuries could be avoided if people properly restrain themselves. (Both in the vehicle and in how they drive )

I noticed this same post in another Mazda board and all of the replies are screaming lawyer, laywer, lawsuit, lawsuit......all because they don't understand how the system works. I assume you car hasn't been driven since the accident, you should be able to get the information out of the computer that will tell you what all of the sensors were reading before the impact. Any accident investigator should know this.

BTW....How did you hit the wall? Did a truck cut you off or something? I know people can drive crazy in some countries.... I refuse to drive when I'm in Mexico on business because there seem to be no rules of the road, and when I went to Japan, the cab drivers were lunatics.

 

Reading everyone's posts i start to learn something more about "Air Bags" not "Mazda manufacterers". Yes, after an accident it is hard to blame yourself when, for example, the accident was caused because of me, totally damaged the car, no air bags deplyed and cause personal injury. Looking at these pics makes me think this poll was hit trying to go around some other car, and I and without knowing it was there or not be able to see it ,probablly cause it is not painted nor covered with reflector tape, hit it and the air bags were not deployed. Of course, i cannot imagine what personal injury romanmojita and your wife would have had if you were driving 10-15 miles faster and the air bag would have not deployed. On the other hand, reading to sstlaure a 8 years old exp. air bag engineer responds I believe spending ton's of $$$ on just Air Bags is done only to prevent drivers and passengers to get injured, of course there times when those safety features cause injury when they are in use, meaning either or it is still possible to get injured no matter what kind of accident and how the system works. Little example, friend of mine was in the car with his buddy driving at about 45mph, were little careless, didn't notice that in 15 sec the road was over and had 90 degree turn, in front of them was a 9in stop curb, and neither one of them was wearing a seatbelt, well you all guess what happened? both of them walked away with slightly scraches, how? going at that speed and no time to make that 90 degree agnle nor aply the brakes they hit that 9in wall, luckelly for both of them neither one wor a seatbelt, or else they would have been straped inside and not able to walk anymore, cause there legs would have been broken. And the crash time, front windshield shattered and they flew out, landing on the ground and getting away with slight bruses and scraches. Oh, yes, the airbags didn't deploy either, if so engineeratically they would have suffered some kind of injury, comming out of a fron windshiled and stopped by an air bag. This is a little example just to show that sometimes without "by an accident" using or deployed safety features can save your life. On the other hand, no offense, they got really lucky. Back to the subject. First off, like sslaure said, check that "snapshot" something i have already heard off. Most off car industry in USA already have them, the only way to find out is to find its location and pull it otut and take it to your dealership or let them do it. If Mazda3 doesn't have it them i can say is only one thing "It is their fault because the air bag didn't employ, if not because i was not going fast enough or got hit right in the center of my front end where is no sensor probablly, than let them proof that the car did all the standard safety features except that the Air Bag decided to no employ"? As for you sstlaure, no offense, you are a very experienced engineer and i am an upcomming one and have an understanding that your job and future is affected by the theories and results from the air bags used in many cars to this day now, you personally know that "IF" by any chance it was one of the 100s MAzda cars with misfunctioning sensor, the manufacturers will be looking for the one to blame. I see your point is to give us "less experienced" engineeracle way drivers to understand how air bags work, and i trully appritiate your advice. My can see that if the car hit a poll at 35mph and air bag didn't employ at that speed, than it is calculated that it was not a major accident, meaning if someone uses a slash-hammer and by accident hits the front bumper of the car, the sensor will not employ because it would cause almost no or minor injury and no need to employ!!

As for my conclusion, i think, even at that speed with such sever accident the air bag should have deployed, but the only way to find out WHY? it is something engineers like sstlaure took care of, check your "snapshot" and this way mazda manufacturer will be able to give you a detailed explanation of what went wrong or WHY? Glad, romanmojica and your wife are alright, i understand you had to suffer some injuries, but most important you both are alive and before you make your FINAL decision of how safe MAzda3, think twice, and make your final conclusion, indeed it is number one selling car overthere. Goodluck.