Beware the Airbag...

[osan]

The continuing saga of our stupid lives brought a new twist about three weeks ago.

Bibi, my fantastic wife, mowed a large buck on I-64 just west of Covington VA on her way home. Her '17 Camry was destroyed with every airbag in the vehicle set off, about a dozen in all. She got banged up real good with huge and nasty bruises on her arms, most notably. The culprit was not the impact with the deer, but the damned airbags themselves. She called me up around 9PM and I drove out to get her at the ER. Nothing broken, but she got knocked around something good.

Now for the weird part. As I believe I may have mentioned here in a different post relating to the exploits of my hausfrau, Bibi is one of the most rational and down-to-earth people you will ever meet. She is in no way given to exaggeration or flights of fancy, so when she tells me things that are, erm... weird, I listen. She told me that when she impacted the deer, the brakes and steering immediately stopped working, 100%. There was nothing, quite literally. She hit the creature at about 70 mph, so the impact was severe. The bags were deployed, she could see nothing, had no control over the vehicle, and yet it stopped ON ITS OWN on the shoulder, as if put there with some care. Just like that she went from a high speed <BANG!> to a dead stop, parked neatly out of the traffic flow.

Anyone have any speculations as to what happened there? Thus far the only response I've gotten from about a dozen people has been "God". Anyone have anything different, or is that to be the consensus? Any input is appreciated.

[luctor-et-emergo]

The continuing saga of our stupid lives brought a new twist about three weeks ago.

Bibi, my fantastic wife, mowed a large buck on I-64 just west of Covington VA on her way home. Her '17 Camry was destroyed with every airbag in the vehicle set off, about a dozen in all. She got banged up real good with huge and nasty bruises on her arms, most notably. The culprit was not the impact with the deer, but the damned airbags themselves. She called me up around 9PM and I drove out to get her at the ER. Nothing broken, but she got knocked around something good.

Now for the weird part. As I believe I may have mentioned here in a different post relating to the exploits of my hausfrau, Bibi is one of the most rational and down-to-earth people you will ever meet. She is in no way given to exaggeration or flights of fancy, so when she tells me things that are, erm... weird, I listen. She told me that when she impacted the deer, the brakes and steering immediately stopped working, 100%. There was nothing, quite literally. She hit the creature at about 70 mph, so the impact was severe. The bags were deployed, she could see nothing, had no control over the vehicle, and yet it stopped ON ITS OWN on the shoulder, as if put there with some care. Just like that she went from a high speed <BANG!> to a dead stop, parked neatly out of the traffic flow.

Anyone have any speculations as to what happened there? Thus far the only response I've gotten from about a dozen people has been "God". Anyone have anything different, or is that to be the consensus? Any input is appreciated.

Ask the manufacturer. Make sure you do it in writing.

And glad to hear your wife is okay!

[cjm]

Maybe this or something similar (1994 patent)?

https://patents.google.com/patent/JP3467339B2/en

B60T7/22 Brake-action initiating means for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle, or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle

[dannno]

Maybe when she hit the deer, it knocked out the battery, engine shut off, which means no brakes, no steering, etc, and God put her neatly on the shoulder of the road?

Not sure, seen plenty of accidents where cars end up all over the place, I don't think the '17 Camry is that smart but not going to make any claims.

[luctor-et-emergo]

https://www.wired.com/2012/07/automatic-brakes-crash/

This seems to go in the direction at least.

[Anti Federalist]

It's called a "Post Collision Automatic Brake System".

https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos...ision-braking/

I can't tell if Bibi's Camry had that in 2017, but I think it did.

The fact that it landed on the shoulder, out of traffic and safe from secondary collisions, you can thank the Big Guy for that.

[Anti Globalist]

Good to know your wife ended up ok.