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Accidental Side Airbag Deployment

36K views 147 replies 48 participants last post by  davecoon13 
#1 · (Edited)
PLEASE READ...very important for element owners!!!!

Hi all,

Had a scary thing happen the other day. While driving home from work on a nice smooth So. Cal freeway on a nice sunny day, the drivers side, side airbag just decided to deploy! As anyone who has ever been in an accident can tell you, It's quite a ruckus when these let loose! My ears where ringing and my eyes burning but I was able to keep the car under control and avoided any further damages to my self or others...Pretty lucky I think!

I pull over and have a look at the car and think, where's the bullet holes? Everything looks just fine...no damages to anything but the drivers side seat which has the seam blown out and this little blue bag a little bigger than a sock dangling down to the side. I took a look at my upper arm and noticed a pretty healthy welt comming up where the bag had smacked me on the way out. Still, pretty lucky I think...

Long story short, I took it to the dealer. After 2 days of "looking at the car", they determined it was my fault and that I hit or ran over something that hit the sensor under the car causing the bag to deploy and either my self or my insurance would be paying the $980 it would cost to repair the 6 month old car.

Please understand this is about the safety issue not the $980. I have had the car since it had 4 miles on it and have never hit or been hit by anything other than a rock the size of a marble that broke my windshield. I've never run over anything either. Let me ask this, If this sensor is so succeptable to being hit , why is it under the car of all places? Seems like a poor choice to me.

Anyway, after the dealership told me I was on my own, I started doing a little research on some of the popular Element sites like this one, hondasuv.com and also the NHTSA site. I found there had been several of these accidental deployments and almost all had the exact same response from the dealer. What bothered me most was that only 2 of the incidents where reported to the NHTSA!

The NHTSA is the government agency that keeps info on these sort of defects and if enough of them get reported they'll do an investigation and if it is warranted will force the manufacturer to fix the problem through a recall! The catch is...People have to report the problem to the NHTSA! No report, no repairs and the problem never gets fixed. It's very simple to report a problem...just go tohttp://www.safercar.gov/ and click on "report a problem.

Anyway, if any of you have had this problem or know any of the other Element owners who have, please let me know or point them to the NHTSA site to fillout a report. You can drop me a note here or e-mail it to me at phil2000@pacbell.net. It's my hope we can get this repaired for all of us before it causes someone to be seriously injured or killed.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Who knows maybe we can save a few lives here for nothing more than the time to fill out a report!
 
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#134 ·
Numbers are growing!

Hi all,

Just a quick update. I have been contacted by several more "unlucky" owners that have had less than normal events with their Element airbag systems. I am continueing to urge them to go to the link and report their experiences.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Thank you to all of you that have done so.

As of this AM on the NHTSA site there are 74 total reports for airbag system malfunctions on the Honda Element from 2003 to 2006. The majority are for unprovoked drivers side airbag deployments as well as several passenger side kabooms and numerous non deployments in severe head-on impacts and roll overs. There are 35 reported injuries as well. Not too sure what the magic number is when the NHTSA "springs into action" but there you have it.

Honda continues it's hardline denial stance and continues to proclaim that we the "customers" are the defects in this senario as is illustrated in most of the reports filed to date with the NHTSA. They have no intention of making any commitments or promises in this matter...too many $$$ at stake. Dont let this keep you from filing the report anyway...we need you.

Haven't gotten any new info from the lawyers on the class action suit being filed but I would urge all of you to contact the attoneys noted in the previous post and see what you can do or to get help.

Got any news??? Post it here or e-mail me at phil2000@pacbell.net

Chow!
 
#135 ·
Just read through this thread, scary stuff and my condolences to those who've had to deal with defective airbag deployment. I hope the class action suit does go somewhere.

Question - is there a range of models (EX/LX/SC) or model years that this problem seems limited to, or has it happened across all Elements?
 
#138 ·
If you are seriously wanting to do this then you may be able to unhook the connector to the airbag, measure the resistance across the bag itself, and then install the correct resistor to jump the plug end in an attempt to fool the light from coming on.

**I am in no way condoning these actions** :)
 
#139 ·
Measuring the resistance of the air bag?

First thing is stand far away when attempting because DVOM's send voltage to measure the resistance and this could deploy the air bag. Second thing is, all air bag modules have a shorting bar across the terminals that prevent any power going to the bag unless its connected to the vehicles harness, so the reading would be 0 ohms.
 
#143 ·
Ha, you're right! I didn't think about it like that. First thing that popped into my head, and a way I've fooled other sensors before. Probably not such a great idea for an airbag.
So .. did I win a contest or saved a fool from testing air bags?
 
#148 ·
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