Bo Si Yi, the incredible T-shirt customization expert around you.
After the accident, the airbags in the driver's seat inside the car did not open. Mr. Wang provided the pictures showing that the front of his Benteng B70 sedan had been severely damaged. From February 3rd, Xiao Wang from Shanghe County has been staying in Jinan city for three days. During this period, he used a truck to carry his nearly scrapped Benteng B70 sedan back and forth multiple times between his residence and the car 4S store, all in order to seek an explanation: "Why was the car so heavily damaged in the accident without a single airbag opening?"
However, the 4S store’s reply to Xiao Wang was: "The angle of the car crash was wrong, which caused the airbags not to open." Xiao Wang found this explanation very hard to believe.
Regarding the issue of the airbags, Xiao Wang stated that it all started with a car accident he encountered at 12:11 AM on January 30th while visiting a friend's house. While driving back to his hometown in Shanghe County on Provincial Road 248, Xiao Wang was chatting with a few friends in the car. Suddenly, a car came towards him, about to collide head-on. In a panic, Xiao Wang instinctively swerved the steering wheel sharply to the right to avoid the oncoming car. Instantly, his car lost control and rushed towards the roadside greenery trees.
With two loud bangs, the car broke a lamppost and then collided with a tree. The tree flipped the car over, leaving it upside down. Xiao Wang in the driver's seat suffered continuous impacts and felt dizzy. After confirming that the friends in the car were all safe and sound, Xiao Wang crawled out of the car window. Seeing the scene before him, Xiao Wang felt fear and his legs kept trembling...
According to the photos provided by the traffic police department afterwards, the reporter saw that Xiao Wang's Benteng B70 sedan had been severely damaged and deformed, with car light fragments scattered all over the ground. The front bumper fell off, exposing the radiator and engine components, and the two front wheels of the car also showed deviation and twisting.
None of the six airbags opened
Xiao Wang was grateful that he and his friends were not injured in the accident. However, upon reflection, he suddenly realized: "The car's front is almost gone, but none of the airbags in the car popped out. Could there be a problem with the quality of the airbags?"
According to Xiao Wang's recollection, when he bought the car in July 2010, he specifically consulted the salesperson at the 4S store about the safety airbags of the Benteng B70 sedan. Upon learning that the model was equipped with six airbags, Xiao Wang decisively decided: "I'll buy it!"
However, after encountering this accident, Xiao Wang thought: "Even if more airbags are equipped, what use is it if they don't work when it matters? Isn't this just a showpiece?"
The next day, Xiao Wang became increasingly uneasy and loaded the Benteng B70 sedan onto a truck, pulling it all the way to the Benteng B70 sedan 4S store located in the urban area of Jinan city. After a preliminary inspection of Xiao Wang's car, the staff at the 4S store believed that the car was severely damaged, except for the engine, all other parts needed repair or replacement.
Why didn't the airbags open?
"Since the car was hit so badly, why didn't the airbags open in time?" Xiao Wang asked the staff at the 4S store. The other side claimed that the airbags do not necessarily open once an accident occurs; whether the airbags open depends on factors such as the speed and angle of the vehicle collision, "It may not have opened due to the incorrect collision angle."
"Incorrect collision angle?" The explanation given by the 4S store staff made Xiao Wang feel very incredulous. Since buying the car, Xiao Wang has been driving for over a year. But regarding the claim that "the opening of the airbag is related to the speed and angle of the collision," this was the first time he had heard it.
In response, the reporter consulted some veteran technicians in auto repair. At a repair shop on Huaxin Road in the provincial capital, Master Xiao, who has been in the business for many years, introduced that most car owners think "once an accident happens, the airbag should open," which is actually a misconception. The conditions for the airbag to open are very strict, related to the speed, angle, deceleration value, force, etc., of the collision, and it does not necessarily open just because the collision is severe.
Master Xiao told the reporter that there are specific requirements for the opening conditions of the airbag. When a collision occurs, if the collision occurs within a 30-degree angle on either side of the vehicle's longitudinal centerline, and the collision deceleration reaches 1.8 to 3 G's, and the car's speed is around 30 km/h, these are the conditions for triggering the airbag.
"The reason the airbag doesn't open can only be two: one is that the airbag did not meet the opening conditions under normal circumstances, and the other is that the airbag indeed has quality issues," said Master Xiao. However, he believes that since there is no national standard for the use of automobile airbags, even if the airbag has quality issues, it would be difficult for the car owner to find sufficient evidence on their own.
For this, most car owners also believe that without authoritative test reports, it would be almost impossible to win a dispute lawsuit against the car manufacturer regarding the airbags.
Airbag Quality Identification is Hard for Individuals
The situation where the airbag does not open during a car accident is not an isolated case. Besides the Benteng B70 sedan complained about by Xiao Wang, other brands like Changan Mazda and Great Wall cars have also experienced instances where the airbags did not open during accidents. Although there is no unified national standard or industry standard, experts believe: "Qualified airbags will open when certain conditions are met."
So, how can consumers like Xiao Wang identify whether it is related to the quality of the airbag once they encounter an accident where the airbag does not activate? On February 3rd, the reporter contacted Ms. Gao, a customer service representative at the FAW Benteng headquarters in Changchun City. She introduced that when encountering problems similar to Xiao Wang's, the car owner needs to provide the investigation report of the accident scene by the traffic police and fire department through the car dealer to the manufacturer, and then the manufacturer will send experts to identify the airbags of the damaged vehicle to confirm whether there are any quality issues with the airbags.
Can consumers find third-party identification agencies themselves to detect the airbags? The reporter learned that Tsinghua University's Automobile Collision Laboratory and China Automotive Technology & Research Center are the earliest institutions in our country to conduct automobile collision safety experiments, and most domestic car manufacturers' products are certified by these two institutions during the production stage.
Regarding consumer applications for airbag detection, the staff of Tsinghua University's Department of Automotive Engineering stated that Tsinghua University's Automobile Collision Laboratory mainly focuses on scientific experiments and does not accept individual applications for detection and certification. Staff from the China Automotive Technology & Research Center mentioned that they mainly face automobile manufacturers for vehicle collision detection and certification, although they are currently establishing a certification institution facing judicial departments, but the project is still in its infancy.
Staff from the China Automotive Technology & Research Center introduced that individuals can go through judicial procedures, where judicial departments propose detection and certification applications to them, to detect and certify vehicles involved in collisions.
Bo Si Yi, the incredible T-shirt customization expert around you.
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