Don't know if it's the same on all cars, but the shop manual for my Lumina says that you have to be hit anywhere on the front, 45 degrees from the center of the car. Does that make sense? It shows a diagram...but I can't type that. So if you're hit on the side of the bumper, but not within the 90 degree area, it won't go off. Not that this applies to your situation anyways... Just saw it in the book today when I was looking something else up.

 

I agree, looks like the impact missed the bumper itself for the most part.

Glad your ok.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Wow I am surprised to see a local! :)

I think my bumper actually went under her Honda civic so the hood took most of the damage. You can't see all the damage from this angle but it was about $5500 dollars worth. The bumper is hanging on barely and the passenger side light is broken. The Honda Civic I hit just had a bit of the back bumper torn. I may have not given my brakes their due credit. I was in a lot of shock after so I just went on what i remember seeing my speed at before I hit her. I probably slowed down to more like 30-40 mph.

I am really hating my Hyundai rental car. Can't wait to get my HHR back. We had a witness saying it was this truck that dropped debris and drove off but the police report didn't show any witness statements. Maybe they'll fix my steering wheel while they are at it! It never has been right since I bought it (it was crooked and after 2 times fixing it the thing still wasn't straight)

 

That's quite common. People remember what speed they were going prior to slamming on the brakes, and rarely are accurate at to what speed they were actually going at the moment of impact. Most overstate it.......

 

Now it does happen where bags fail. I saw a Mazda 6 a little while ago that was hit hard enough to send the passenger seat into the console and total the car. Not one bag went off. The side bags were still in place. The body shop said there was some legal action in volved with it and they could not take it away even if they were not going to repair it.

The Mazda was new like a 08 and really did not hold up well at all. It was good thing only the driver was in the car.