granddaughters wreck

[2late4u]

well my granddaughter and her brother and his wife with their 1 yr old baby got rear ended today in their 2004 caravan that i gave her. they were stopped at a red light behind another car and a young girl slammed into the back of her van and then pushed her into the car in front of her, van will probably be totaled i sure. crunched the front end almost into the engine and the rear was pushed in almost to the rear bench seat... weird that none of the air bags went off!!!! everyone went to the Emerg Rm. but then they were released a few hours later guess they will be real sore tomorrow. at least the girl that hit her had insurance... her air bag went off and it had blood all over the steering wheel havent heard how she ended up... always thought if you were hit hard front or rear the air bags were supposed to protect you,of course they way the air bags problems going on maybe they are lucky they didnt go off....sure am glad they are all safe and the Emerg. rm was telling them that after a wreck they are supposed to replace the baby seat even if it doesn't look like nothing is wrong with it....you all take care out there and be on the look out for the other guy.all in a blink of an eye.......

[jkeaton]

Glad everyone is ok. Idiot drivers abound.

[Journeyman425]

The airbag system takes into account the rate of deceleration, as well as impact force and location, to determine if the bag(s) should deploy. In many rear-end collisions, the airbag would not go off even if the rear-ended vehicle hit the car in front of it. Our Journeys feature front seat headrests which deploy up and out to help absorb whiplash in these types of rear-end events. Her minivan did not slow sufficiently fast enough in conjunction with the force of the frontal impact to deploy the bags. She may have been injured by the bag in this case had it gone off. This is assuming the air bag light was not illuminated in her vehicle - if it is off, then the system was operational and functioning as designed. And yes, the child seat must now be replaced regardless of its cosmetic appearance.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Journeyman425

[dhh3]

With blood on the air bag, it may have been one of the recalled Takata bags where metal fragments are involved with the deployment of the air bag.

[bfurth]

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Any car seats in the vehicle, occupied at the time of the collision or not, must be replaced. The only manufacturer that allows for re-use after a collision is Britax, and even then only under specific circumstances. The at-fault party's insurance carrier will be more than happy to reimburse you for actual expenses for replacing the seats you had, and they usually do so with logical replacements. For a 1 year old child, I assume they were either at or near the height/weight limits for the typical infant carrier, and it was probably getting close to moving them up to a bigger rear facing seat anyway. Now is the time to get a good convertible car seat (if they didn't have one already). Either way, replace it with something "similar"

If the van wasn't moving when it got hit, and it got hit from behind, airbags in front of the passengers would be of little use. Air bags will assist in more gently slowing you down. from a stop with impact to the rear, you would be suddenly accelerating forward. The seatbelt pre-tensioners would be the restraint that protects the occupant, not the airbag. In the case of newer Grand Caravans, it would also involve the active head rest.