2018 Toyota Rav4 XLE made in Japan. 45-ish mph rear ending of a VW Jetta. Idiot in front of my daughter raced up to stopped traffic and jammed on brakes, voila! Idiot daughter didn't follow my teaching of watching traffic further ahead and was at 110% of the speed limit. Now we're facing the likely totaling of the car.
Impact was straight on and it triggered the side airbags. At the collision center, the guy receiving it and an adjuster (for a major insurance brand) just hanging out both agreed that they've seen worse front end damage without the side airbags going off. The impact was enough to push the hood latch back, crumpling the hood, the bumper is amazingly intact and scratched more than anything else. Only a slight protrusion on the sides. Coolant did leak out.
Those extra 8 airbags (curtain and seats) going off will push the cost of repairs way up dangerously close to totaling the car. My insurer assures me that the car will be valued on current "inflated" values due to the current market environment. Everybody involved told me to expect it to be totalled.
Is this common for Toyota? Is there a known problem with a bad rollover sensor or misfiring of side-impact bags???
Emergency braking warning activated, don't think it decreased the speed any prior to impact.
...My goal to get some sort of concession by Toyota so that the car won't be totaled. It wasn't only her dream car, but there's an emotional attachment on her part (it was our last big project together as I have a neurological condition stealing my ability to do crap)... I have contacted the adjuster, the collision shop and Toyota. I have made it clear that we are interested in saving it. Even if there's money involved and if we can get a safe vehicle out of it and avoid a salvaged title.
Please note that my emphasis is on the unnecessary deployment of the side airbags (the two sides of curtains and seat-mounted airbags).
Because of the unnecessary (collision shop employee's word) deployment of the side impact airbags in a collision limited squarely in the front, the car (*as clearly addressed in my original post*) is likely totaled. I am asking "Is this common for Toyota? Is there a known problem with a bad rollover sensor or misfiring of side-impact bags???"
When air bags go off, the car is likely totalled.
That being said, at 45mph I would expect air bag deployment. I don't hear anything that is a concern as they did exactly what they were supposed to do. The adjuster and whoever else can say they haven't seen "xyz" before, but they don't hold physics degrees and don't understand impact angles, etc.
IMO, nothing outside of standard parameters happened. Sorry about the car, but glad your daughter is ok. That's what the outcome was supposed to be, and the car did its job.
The whole push was about the unnecessary deployment of the side impact airbags. I will reword my post to reflect more of an emphasis on that point. Thank you for participating.
I understand what your post was entailing. However, just because an impact to the front set off the side airbags does not imply anything out of the ordinary. If you had backseat passengers at the time of the crash, they may have been saved by that deployment. Modern safety systems are extremely complex. Unless you knew the exact programming parameters of the airbag system, the impact degree, and a ton of other variables then there is no way to say if the deployment was justified.
+1 @mod_man on this one.
We don’t know the impact angle & any secondary impact/s involved. What’s important is your child is safe & unhurt.
While I know you want to hold onto the vehicle, I’ll recommend you take the payout (if totalled) and find another (non accidental) RAV4 for her.
The resultant (& long term) front end damage may outweigh the emotional attachment you have to this vehicle. It might even turn sour if the repair isn’t carried out correctly & if the car doesn’t drive the same, post repair.
Impacts at 45 mph (70 kph) have significant energy, can be lethal, and I'm not a bit surprised that the side airbags went off.
- A-pillar crumples
- door dislodged
- driver's limbs flailing out the side window (no curtain airbag)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0cTAuFSPI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yzw4oSDbiA
curtain air bags deployed @ 40 mph
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q7fqPUn8VI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ZLRh0NUdY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjSifTD7oMA
Excellent post!
The amount of damage was significantly less than what was shown in those videos. 40 MPH into a barrier is something like the equivalent of 25 MPH into a vehicle. A fixed barrier does not give at all nor has contours, the vehicle she hit bounced. Other than scratches on her bumper, no deforming damage appears to have occurred to the rear of the other driver's car.
The Rav4 hood moved 5/16ths of an inch back and slightly up. The bumpers protruded only 1/16th out on each side, most clips did not even break for the bumpers on the sides. The fenders were in perfect shape. I do not know about frame and wheel alignment... We haven't gotten that far as the estimate stopped at a basic visual until the insurer approves a more thorough teardown.
I have contacted Toyota who has already sent an investigator to pull the data from the black box. The airbags are 71.4% of the estimated repair cost (a majority of the airbags that deployed were the side curtains and seats).
My diligence has also found a few other complaints about unnecessary deployment. I have made my insurer aware of this.
As it stands now the car would be totaled. The airbags push it over. The structural damage appears to be minimal, the coolant leak appears to be a hose issue.
Again, I revert to my question:
Is this (over-deployment of the side airbags) common for Toyota? Is there a known problem with a bad rollover sensor or misfiring of side-impact bags???
I have found indications that this is not a unique occurrence with other Toyotas, now I am seeking out other occurrences with this particular generation of Rav4 and its Lexus counterpart (RX300???).