Mazda3 Air Bags Faulty?

[staind]

thx for sharing this info and glad to hear that you, your wife and pup are recovering quickly. this must have been really traumatic.

just curious, how did you end up hitting that barrier? what happened?

[mazda3driver]

Thanks for sharing bro, i understand how you feel with those airbags. But good thing nothing happened really bad to both of you.

BTW, curious lang ako. Will you get another Mazda3? Or try different brands/model? Kse for sure, ang magiging effect nito if Mazda will not try to fix the problem if may problem talaga is ung brand nila. We all know now na ung airbags ay nde lagi mag de-deploy kse may restrictions sila sa lahat nang brands. But, sa panahon ngayon if nde nakaka intindi ung makaka rinig yari ang Brand.

IMO

Like our lawyer told us, lesson learned: don't buy Mazda... although my dad drives a Tribute and I will be borrowing it when he leaves for the states this weekend. How ironic because I'll be bringing it to Mazda Greenhills next week for its 20,000km servicing. Oh well, maybe the Tribute's air bags work a lot better ;-)

In 15 yrs of driving, this is the 2nd time I crashed my car. The last time was 14 yrs ago in my '90 Corolla. I hit a wall near EDSA Guadalupe at 100kph at an angle and had a cut near my left eye. I've never forgotten to wear my seat belt again. There were no air bags then.

I don't think I can drive a Mazda3 now. It has been traumatic because my wife got injured. How I wish I just took all her injuries. We just got married 4 months ago and I'm not planning to put my family in a Mazda3 again.

[mazda3driver]

thx for sharing this info and glad to hear that you, your wife and pup are recovering quickly. this must have been really traumatic.

just curious, how did you end up hitting that barrier? what happened?

I came from my dad's bday at New Manila and passing Santolan turning right at EDSA going home to Ortigas Center. I did not see the black and white striped concrete barrier but only saw the tall yellow striped post behind it at the last second. I saw a car on my left so I did not think of swerving to avoid putting another car in danger. I did not have time to look at my right side so I just hit the brakes.

Media arrived instantly. To me and my wife's surprised, a lot of people started calling us the next day cos it was featured in the 6pm TV Patrol with the headline "Nabangga Nanaman" referring to the numerous accidents with those MMDA dividers.

We were unfortunate also that among all those dividers, the one we hit were among the very few with no reflectors and designed like a solid block. If you pass EDSA, you'll notice that most of them now are designed at an upward angle. You will also notice that concrete barrier now in EDSA fronting Camp Crame has a new reflector on top of it ;-)

Mr. Del Youde of Ford even told us at our meeting "that's why I don't pass EDSA".

[eclipseds]

Looks like the dashboard is jarred pretty badly, it's out of place. And is that a crack I'm seeing? For such an strong impact, one couldn't help but ask, so I couldn't blame m3driver for questioning.

And what's with the conclusion that you weren't moving fast enough? WTF? It's rated to deploy at 20kph at the time of impact and a little more faster than that and it could have been a lot worse, don't he think?

Non-deployment due to hitting a pole or a tree is acceptable IF the cabin was intact, IMHO.

Anyway, after all that's been said and done, I'm just glad you and your family are fine, scathe but fine.

[BlueBimmer]

wow even with that kind of impact the airbags still didnt deploy? sobra naman..kelangan ata total wreck talaga bago magdeploy

[niky]

Nope. It just needs to be a solid object hitting across the front instead of in one spot. I've hit the curb at high speed at an angle and my airbags didn't deploy (not because it was a curb, but because of the angle of impact). A friend, however, accidentally spun his car while avoiding another, hit a wall at low speed, (very little damage compared to this accident) but face on, and the airbags deployed.

Very specific nga talaga. Airbag deployment isn't determined solely by the force of impact.

[mazdamazda]

bluebimmer... you don't know the circumstances behind that crash... the car could have been side swiped for all you know before its front nose crashed into a wall.

I've had my share of a frontal collission with a mazda (t-boning a jeepney)... the front crumple zone did its job... the seatbelts did its job (well... at least IF it was properly worn... over the shoulder & laps - unlike most filipinos who strap it across the stomach).

EDIT:

I just read this...

Sprained Ankle. She was sitting cross-legged at impact. If she wasn't wearing her seatbelt. She would have certainly been thrown off at this position along with our puppy.

Sitting cross-legged? Well... that explains a lot... as i've said above... the seatbelts should have been worn properly for it to be effective.

[BlueBimmer]

hmm i think ive watched too many movies where airbags deploy at the slightest bump hehehe

[oldblue]

that's too bad bro *mazda3driver. two times ka na pala na-major accident. why not replace it with diesel powered vehicle? para iwas tukso na din. The Tribute is fine kasi sigurado mag-slow down ka dyan kasi elevated yan.

ako kasi I had one major accident on my own and also up to know, hindi ko pa din makalimutan nangyari sa parents ko more than 10 years ago. and add to that, when we visited our cousins in Australia, I have this one cousin who boasted that he crashed 3 cars already there. and his Australian stepfather confirmed it too me how serious the accidents were. somehow he's turned into a retard ... dun ako mas lalo natakot!

[oldblue]

from this end position, tingin ko dapat talaga nag-deploy eh. gano pa ba frontal collision will the SRS mechanism need to deploy eh durog na din kalahati ng engine.
kagaguhan yun sinabi ng mazda rep na you should have been faster and the impact more pronounced. the picture says it all and you've got yourself a convincing lawsuit.