Jazz Seatbelt and Airbags fail to work !

[jazcivic]

Hi to all Jazzers.

My lady had an accident with our Jazz 2 weeks ago. She reported
that 2 seconds inattention was all it took to smash into the back
of the car infront. She did not even have time to brake.
4 cars were involved, caused by a leading taxi stopping suddenly to
pick up a passenger. The taxi driver did not hang around for fear of
being identified as the cause. The 2nd and 3rd car stopped in time
and our Jazz slammed into the back of the 3rd car at about 50kph.
The airbags did not deploy and the seatbelt did not hold her back.
She smacked square on the steering wheel like a crash dummy.
Poor girl's been in pain and off work.

I wonder why the seat belt failed to work.
The smash repair place said the damage did not affect the structure
and that was why the airbags did not deploy. btw $11,000+ is what
it will cost to repair.

She rang Honda Australia (14/3) for an explanation and they referred
her to the Honda Dealer. Is this standard Honda Australia's response?

I've search the OzHonda forum but not much info except a write-up
by Claymore. Anyone's got an explanation re seatbelt and airbags failure?
Thanks.

[Tofu]

Honda Australia are useless with issues like his
Honda dealerships can't do much either

you said she didn't even have time to brake, and i don't think the Jazz has seatbelt pretentioners, so it wouldn't have "activated" the seatbelt, if that makes any sense.

hope she's ok

[NvM]

damn, hope shes ok... sounds nasty...

[abzndintegra]

The way the SRS system is designed is not to deploy just because u have a front ender,

the only way the system will deploy is if the rails are crumbled on impact, so for example if ur car is hit high and only the radiator support is damaged then they wont deploy but if u have a major front ender and the rails crumble then they will deploy,

the reason why i say crumbl is becuase if for example ur hit side they wont deploy, roll over they wont deploy,

even if the car is hit on the side front and the rails bend they wont deploy only if they are hit front on and crumble will they deploy.

I guess the reason is $$$$ if for exmaple they deploy at every little crash then insurance costs would blow out through the roof, NRMA does reports on diff speeds starting from 15k/h to 100k/h, if for example at 15k/h the airbags deploy they woul dbe ineffective as they wouldnt be needed.

[Philip Lee]

well if u remove the front bumpers u might be able to see the sensor on the chassis rails. unless the impact is big enough to reach the sensor, air bags won't deploy.

however if u had a side impact where it was big enough so the eg. the front suspension was bented then bags would deploy.

with the seatbelts, for most systems, they need the brake on for them to work. while some cars like the Merc has system like pre-safe which can sense when an impact is unavoilable and would activate pretensioners n airbags.

[Zimp13]

i thought all cars nowadays have seat belt pretensioners....

[Jazzle]

yes it does have...

i dont think the air bag only deploys when u get hit from the front.. it deploys whenever ur car gets hit hard... when my last jazz got total.. it was hit on the side and airbag deployed..

[jazcivic]

Thanks to all who replied to my queries.
My lady's still very unwell, with alot of pain and not able to sleep.

She did not have time to brake, thus the seatbelt did not hold her back
when the impact happened. The point of impact was high.
Rails did not crumble. Damage were to the bumper, upper section of the bonnet,
side guards, the radiator hit and damaged the alternator.

Does the Jazz have seatbelt Pre-Tensioners ???
How does it function? Why did it not work in this situation?

All... please feel free to include any further comments or info from personal
experience. Thanks.

[ahcash]

Yes.. the Jazz does have Seatbelt pretensioners for Front seating positions.

Check the following for how it work...
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/seatbelt4.htm

[jeffchen]

Just to let you have a little know about the air bags, if the air bag did deploy your girl will be in more pain than she was in now, the acutal force of the airbag is the same as a brick flying in your face, however if you are in a servere crash this reduces the force from falling off a 2 storey building,
And also note that the pre-tentioners only work when the SRS airbag are activated, in other words you have to have the airbags deployed for it to work as this system works with the SRS airbags

[08ESE]

austalian cars with airbags wont have the airbags go off unless the car is doing over a certain speed, not sure but i think its 35 kmh. jeffchen is right about the pretensioners not going off unless the airbag does, they are designed to stop the airbag from breaking your face. In america, because no one wears seat belts, air bags are set to deploy at a lot lower speed than here.

SRS is safetly restaint system, it is BOTH the seatbelt pre-tensioners AND the airbag combined

[jeffchen]

Ohh yeah 08ESE, SRS=Supplemental Restraint System, it works with the supplement of a seat belt like you said, i must say the Jazz is one of the safest small car around, apart from the new toyota yaris with the 7 airbag option, but hey i don't like toyota's so boring and plain... i prefer HONDA ALOT BETTER!! ehehehe!

[ahcash]

Just got reported by one of our Malaysian Jazz members. The Jazz was repoted total lost and the driver and passenger next to him walk out only with minor scratches.

AUSFIT.COM (http://www.ausjazz.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=537)

[^CarBoy^]

It's true about the airbag... when I had an accident on my civic a long time ago, when the airbag deployed it hurt me more than the actual accident. It felt like some one punched me on the face, gave me a fat lip and bleeding nose. Plus cause my hand was on the steering wheel the explosion gave a slight burn on my hands.... :(

[FB008]

the air bag didn't deploy probably because it wasnt going fast enough either. as for the pretensioner... well i believe you have to be braking first for it to activate.

i'm sorry but i have to blame for the driving of the missus... i hope she is ok though.