Yaris crash - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

jrksmith · 12-05-2006, 10:42 AM

Has anyone crashed their yaris??? My husband crashed our 07 yaris S on saturday. I was just wondering if anyone else has had a crash were the air bags did not go off. He landed on the drivers side of the car and slid for a while then landed on top of an Alero. Even when they pulled the other car out from under my Yaris and let the yaris fall to the ground the air bags still did not go off!! Just wanted to know if others had a problem like this

HL2k · 12-05-2006, 02:28 PM

how the crap did he get ONTOP of an alero?!

randog · 12-11-2006, 09:06 AM

I crashed my Yaris Sedan this Sat Dec 9th. I was driving behind a gypsy cab going 30 or so and when we got to an intersection (green light) an ambulance sitting at a red light put his siren on- the gypsy cab braked hard and by the time I was braking hard it was to late and I was already up his rear.

My Yaris crunched like a peanut. I was really disappointed about how weak it was. His Lincoln Towncar had a mear ajared bumper. He popped that thing back on and when the police came they asked him where his damage was (it wasn't very evident).

My Yaris apparently went under his bumper, the entire hood bent up, the radiator caved in, but no air bag! I am actually glad it didn't go off. The car is undrivable (not totaled). I'll find out more later today. Maybe even post some pics.

randog · 12-12-2006, 09:21 AM

Here are the pics:

http://copernicus.poly.edu/randog/ma...serialNumber=1

http://copernicus.poly.edu/randog/ma...serialNumber=2

http://copernicus.poly.edu/randog/ma...serialNumber=2

http://copernicus.poly.edu/randog/ma...serialNumber=2

http://copernicus.poly.edu/randog/ma...serialNumber=2

HL2k · 12-12-2006, 03:38 PM

thats impressive

stuts · 12-12-2006, 03:52 PM

randog are they going to be able to fix that?????????? the Yaris was designed to not be so expensive to fix so no worries

randog · 12-13-2006, 01:27 PM

Yeah, they are going to order a new hood, bumper, check the chasis, etc... I'll post more info when I get the quote.

I really don't think the Chasis was bent because the impact wasn't that hard (no air-bag). I only called insurance today (4 days later), I wanted to see what the police report said.

--randy

YarisOwner2007 · 12-27-2006, 12:10 AM

Those are some clear pics. Same car as me as well.

Primordial · 12-27-2006, 02:37 AM

Well air bags are designed only to go off when the structure of the vehicle is compromised enough to warrant a soft landing for the driver's head! In the case of the photos above, this isn't the case. While you were probably jarred heavily in the accident, your face was probably nowhere near the steering wheel, and the frontal structure of the car hasnt really been compromised, so therefore the air bags dont go off.

Same again with the car that ended up on top of the other car. The front air bags are designed only to go off mainly only in frontal accidents. It can be dangerous for passengers if the air bags go off in other cases where they arent needed. I'd say the frontal force wasnt enough to warrant air bags. As you said, he ended up on the passenger side of the car so it doesnt sound like the front airbags would have been needed anyway.

I'd be happy that the air bags DIDNT go off as they are usually very expensive to replace

sentimentalgirl · 01-30-2007, 11:38 AM

Randog, I was in a crash too and my Yaris was damaged as yours. I don't have pictures, but it looked very similar to yours!!!

I was parking and hit the gas pedal instead of break. It was a big crash because there was a wall infront of me. The damage was very bad - came to $8 000 CAD which is crazy! I was surprised they decided to fix it. The car costed me around $23 000 CAD (with tax and everything).

Anyways, I couldn't believe how much damage I had. They told me that the front of the car is short, and that's the reason mos of the part at the front get damaged while in accident. It's just built like that.

And no, my airbags didn't come out. vbmenu_register("postmenu_1546069", true);

nodrogkam · 01-30-2007, 05:03 PM

most low speed accidents like your little parking lot incident wont cause the airbags to go off, and trust me...in some cases its less painful to have them go off...not to mention less disorienting and scary.

the yaris is not a heavy duty car and it will crumple as shown in pictures. but it IS this crumpling action of the vehicle that absorbs most of the impact. (check out a physics book if you need to understand what i mean).

I can understand the concern that the bags didnt go off, but had any of you crashed your car harder or at a different angle, they would have gone off. in fact if randog had crashed into the back of a lower vehicle causing his real bumper to hit the car in front, his airbags may have gone off.

if you know where the sensors are on your car, you'll also better understand why they go off or dont go off in certain situations. this applies to all cars.

Primordial · 01-30-2007, 05:09 PM

^^^ Spot on... Although, I thought I might add - most cars dont JUST need the sensor to be tripped. There will be multiple conditions that have to be met before the airbag will go off. The main one being speed. If the vehicle is travelling too slow (eg. 40km/h), then the air bags wont go off simply due to the fact that it's physically extremely unlikely that the force of this crash is going to cause your head to contact the steering wheel (assuming you're wearing your seatbelt obviously)- REGARDLESS of the amount of damage, or even if the sensor is totally destroyed. If the conditions arent met then the airbag wont go off.

alfiejts · 01-31-2007, 01:27 PM

Yes - and the body is designed to crumple, to absorb the energy of the crash rather than having all your internal organs gome to a sudden stop causing internal bleeding, which would be the case if the car was too rigid.

It's all physics, as stated above.

Firstly, superficial (relatively) cheap to repair outer panels crumple, then the main chassis is designed to crumple - all of which absorbs energy giving you more chance to survive unhurt (or at worst survive at all)...

If the car was completely rigid and undamaged, it would be your body that had to absorb all the energy of the impact and you wouldn't want that, trust me.....

sentimentalgirl · 01-31-2007, 02:50 PM

I have to say that my car was crashed really bad (the mechanic thought I was in a real accident and was shocked that I hit a wall in the parking lot - even the towing truck driver was shocked!) BUT eventhough it was a big impact, nothing happened to me (except some shock) which means, that the car is really save! The car got damaged but not me and that's what matters the most.

swng · 02-03-2007, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sentimentalgirl

I have to say that my car was crashed really bad (the mechanic thought I was in a real accident and was shocked that I hit a wall in the parking lot - even the towing truck driver was shocked!) BUT eventhough it was a big impact, nothing happened to me (except some shock) which means, that the car is really save! The car got damaged but not me and that's what matters the most.

Sorry to learn about the accident. Glad that you are OK!