I've been told that if an airbag goes off the car will be written off by the insurance company - any idea if this is the case?
Thanks
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Depends on the car, the other damage, which airbag and how many airbags, the cost of the repair v the value of the car.
Depends.
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Depends as cheddar says. If the value of the car is below 2 grand and the passenger airbag deploys as well, then yes its probably written off.
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Mine would be a write off if I lost a wheel trim.
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I once attempted to explain to the insurers that the absolutly full tank of diesel had not been accounted for in their valuation of my written off ( by the missis ) car, it adding a significent % to the valuation.
Without success I might add
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Is there anyway of fixing the dash when the passenger airbag blows it apart?
I presume not, so that must be pretty expensive in parts and labour to fix on many cars.
When airbags were first starting to be used, it was suggested that they'd have to be replaced at 10 years old - thankfully that doesn't seem to have been put into practice.
Edited by Bill Payer on 09/10/2009 at 12:34
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"Is there anyway of fixing the dash when the passenger airbag blows it apart?"
They are usually separate modules which match the look and colour of the rest of the dash, just like the module which is in the centre of the steering wheel....
motors-parts.shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=passenger...9
Edited by Hamsafar on 09/10/2009 at 13:22
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They are usually separate modules which match the look and colour of the rest of the dash
Hmmm...in our cars you can generarally see what appears to be a weakened outline where the airbag would burst through but the surface of the dash is continuous so would surely need replacing as a complete unit? Maybe the dash is built in sections so perhaps the complete top an be replaced reasonably easily, like the Audi one in your link.
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When airbags were first starting to be used it was suggested that they'd have to be replaced at 10 years old - thankfully that doesn't seem to have been put into practice.
Depending on manufacturer, they still say replace either at 10 or 15 year intervals.
Naturally, by the time a car gets that old, there's practically no-one who will spend hundreds (if not thousands) replacing the many air-bags cars are fitted with these days.
I can't imagine air-bags would be reliable forever, but I'd be surprised if they're beyond use in anything less than 20 years.
It'll make for an interesting future when some of today's cars eventually reach classic status, that's for sure.
It's one thing to be driving around in an old car that was never designed to have air-bags, but quite another I'd guess to be in a car that was designed to protect you with air-bags that may or may not work...
Maybe 5th gear will do some tests on this one day? EuroNCAP seem too obsessed with new cars!
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Sooner or later they will show up as a fault when out of date. As well as them failing of course, there will be cases of spontaneous deployment as theye age. Not supposed to happen I know but with tens of millions around it's bound to.
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On my Octavia there is no visibly weakened area on top of the dash and what with the seat airbags causing the upholstery to rip apart like the Incredible Hulks shirt.......
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