Glad she is still alive!!!

 

Since the driver in the other car hit her in the front quarter panel and not the passenger compartment I would think that it would be unlikely that the side airbags would go off. Anyway a dearship with a Tech II scan tool can look at the codes(if any) in the SDM (airbag module) and tell wether or not the module commanded the airbags to go off. Keep in mind it takes the module and a sensor or two to command deployment of an airbag and just because the module says that the impact was severe enough the sensors may not agree therefore the airbag would not deploy.

 

AMEN to that!!

 

+1

Airbags are not designed to deploy in every collision. Like has been said before, the rate of deceleration determines whether they will deploy. That's why the manufacturers put crash beams in the doors and floor and continue to recommend seat belt usage every time you drive or ride in the vehicle.

 

GM has long been at the forefront of airbag technology, and the current generation of sensors are far more complex. The Sensing & Diagnostic Module (SDM, sometimes called the 'black box'), located on the tunnel under the handbrake, records a lot of data from the vehicle, the accelerometers within it and around the vehicle periphery. The deceleration is detected by tiny electronic accelerometers, and I'd assume that in a vehicle with side airbags, there'll be lateral as well as longitudinal accelerometers. Whenever there's an airbag deployment, the data is recorded into non-volatile memory, allowing it to be recovered later by diagnostic equipment - http://www.boschdiagnostics.com/test...s/CDR_faqs.pdf
I'm not sure whether the data can be retrieved by the regular scan equipment, but the insurance company may have access to it through crash reconstruction experts. Near-deployment events are also recorded in erasable memory, but should be accessible for some time. There's been a lot of discussion about this in the Corvette/F-body communities, since the data recorded can be/has been used for evidence in prosecutions.
Even armed with this data, you as an individual still can't determine whether the system operated as intended, as the algorithms that GM has developed as a result of crash tests and real-world data from wrecked vehicles, to determine when the airbags should deploy, is closely guarded.

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/edr-sit...ms_by_TARO.pdf
http://www.rdaweb.com/Newsletters/airbags1.pdf
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/edr-sit...--Corvette.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._n8986421/pg_1
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/22/02.html
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/proble.../chidester.htm

 

pg318

thank you for taking my "5th grader explanation" which is about the extent of my air bag knowledge, and explaining it in detail.

I can now understand more about GM's reputable "black box", which has long been a topic for debate amoung(you guessed it) Corvette owners.

seriously...awesome explanation.

Is the "box" you speak of the one located directly below the cup-holer area of the console, seen here?




cuz if it is...that's a whole lotta wires goin' in.

 

That's the one, all the airbag-related connectors are color-coded yellow. They're always bolted solidly to the bodywork, to accurately transmit a representative acceleration of the passenger seats to the sensor.

 

Welcome to the site. I sure hope your wife recovers and has no lingering aches and pain. Sounds like the car should be totaled and that sob should never be allowed to drive again and have the book thrown at him. Mrs. WEST rest and have a fast recovery.

 

Smoke, is that your HHR during the recent interior swap? Yikes