Oh No! Will it still be safe?

[Teesh]

Hi all,

Just needed some advice as i know very little about cars besides how to drive them. A fellow rear ended me on the M4 motorway. The damage is as below. Just wanted to know is it safe to fix in this state. The repairer said they will use some fan dangled contraption to pull back and bend the pieces out again. Just querying if this is standard practice and if it will be structurally safe? or should i be raising up a stink about it?

Second question, i got hit in the rear, are airbags supposed to go off? or doest it depend on the force of the impact?

Thanks

[AJjnr86]

That's a good hit

Firstly, yes, pulling the chassis back into the right shape is common practice, but may not b 100% good. Have a few other body shops look and c what they would do, it will b safe when they r finished with as long as they have replaced any damaged chassis sections

Secondly, no a rear hit will not generally deploy the airbags, the impacts have to from certain angles to set them off

[Blakey]

to straighten the chassis they use a chassis puller its quite common in older cars, and certain accidents in newer cars, it would be up to the insurance company to whether it will be a wright off (if you have insurance)

airbags only go off if there is a deceleration force of i think its 80% of your speed. in a rear ender you are usually breaking so a collision will be a acceleration not a deceleration so the airbags generally wont go off.

BTW that's in relation to the sensor. side airbags will different to that rule of 80% of your speed, they go on an acceleration in the sideways direction. but i am unsure of what.

anyway from the damage, it can be fixed will should be no problem, to structural integrity the only really damaged part of the chassis i can see is that rear member that i think is bolted/welded to the main chassis. the rest is superficial body damage. which can be easily pulled out and fixed, (but of course not to perfect, unless they spend days and days on it.)

and by the looks of it, it was nice of them to cut your numberplate light harness. instead of unclipping it.

[spareparts]

im a parts interpreter by trade.... being doin parts for 8 yrs now... that a miner hit.... im on the m4 ever day to go to work and it dosnt go fast enough for a bad hit.... its gona need a rear bar, bar reo, maybe rear bever panel and boot floor.... what work shop is it at????? thats a small hit a good repair will have it better then new.

[Teesh]

Cool thanks for your replies. The car is at Arjan motors in lidcombe nsw.

I just wanted to ensure that the car wouldnt have a 'dodgy' feel to it, particularly after buying it brand new.

[spareparts]

i havnt dealt with that work shop befor.....

[El-Diablo]

Air bags normally wouldn't deploy in a rear Enders they are generally designed for frontal offset or side impacts.

Modern airbags can use a combination of sensors including accelerometers which measure the impact in combination with sensors in seats which measure weight of occupant or whether the seat is empty ( high end systems)

They are generally not related to the vehicle speed but the size of the impact (deceleration or even lateral accelleration).


On Australian cars airbags generally don't deploy below around 30 kmh in the US they are set to deploy at lower speeds as seat belts usage is nit as common.

For your situation make sure they check the seat back hinge point for any damage.

[Blakey]

They are generally not related to the vehicle speed but the size of the impact (deceleration or even lateral accelleration).

that whole line contradicts itself, you cant find deceleration without having an initial velocity

[AJjnr86]

That is true Blakey, but what if the vehicle in question is stopped somewhere and is hit front on or side on, then the vehicles speed is not a factor