Got an '08 Uplander here that hit a deer - the actual collision was low- speed and the damage is easy to fix, but it was enough to set both airbags went off, and front seatbelts are now both locked in retracted position and non-functional.
Anyone know if there's a way of restoring function to the belts, even without the airbags in place? I assume there's some mechanism that tightens the belts in a crash - but if it can be reset (or if it needs new belt assemblies) I don't know.
Nope you replace the belt assemblies because there are small explosive charges in them as well that tighten the belt when they fire. To make it all correct you need to replace the air bag modules, belt units and make sure that the bag deploy sensors are still OK.
Yeah, thought that might be the case. I'm not too bothered about having airbags (I'm used to owning vehicles without them anyway!), but I'll have to see what my insurance company say about running it without (I know that for my wife's car it's something silly like a $5 discount for having airbags - but whether that translates to $5 "extra" for running a van with broken ones remains to be seen ;-)
Oh, I did some more poking around yesterday evening, and there appears to be a crash sensor on a cross-beam at the front of the vehicle just above the radiator - there's a huge chunk missing out of it, so it looks like it was probably hit by flying debris and that's why the airbags triggered even though the impact was low-speed.
Looking around, it seems I can get a new front set of belts (driver + passenger) for less than $100 (without the crash-tensioner stuff), which isn't bad at all. Replacing the airbags would be around $1000 though (plus extras - crash sensor, dash / steering wheel covers, clearing codes in the computer etc.)
I would bet that they will tell you they won't even insure it unless you replace the bags. Plus if there is another "event" and the company decides that injuries/death could have been reduced/eliminated IF the bags had been in place and YOU chose not to repair them, They will likely not cover anything.
Could be, Most of the units use the sensors and speed to determine the G-force loading and trigger the bags if the load is over a set threshold. They will also trigger if the G-Level alone is high enough.
I take it you didn't have coverage for this? Keep in mind that if you don't repair it and then sell/trade the vehicle you can be required to replace the bags anyway.
Yeah, good point on that last one - hadn't thought of that. I always play it safe with insurance companies and tell them everything, but I suppose they still have the right not to pay up in an accident if they choose to.
No, it wasn't ours - the previous owners got hit from behind which put a small hole in the back bumper; they were bringing it in to the body shop to get that fixed when they hit a deer and trashed the front end. Their insurance company were going to total it, but I bought it off them for next to nothing - I figure I can either fix it or part it out.
The body panels and other front-end damage isn't a problem (there's no frame damage, and it'll be about $800 in parts, assuming I don't source some stuff from a junkyard) - but just about all my knowledge is with old vehicles that don't have things like airbags and on-board computers and seatbelts with explosives in them, so I'm on a bit of a learning experience there :-)
Bags are not real hard to work with. The cardinal rule with them is to disconnect the battery, then replace the bad parts connect the bags up as close to last as you can. Then connect the battery. The system will run a self test and IF all the faults are gone the light will go off and your all set. If the light stays on then there is still a problem.
The seat belts will likely be worse. The bolts LOVE to rust under the body and not come out.
Most of the electronics are not real difficult, they are just a PIA when they start failing....
Just a follow-up on that - we put basic liability on it without any problem. Told them about the bags and the other damage which meant we wouldn't be driving it right away anyway, and they just said that they'd need to inspect it after we'd done the work if we wanted to change the policy to full cover. As we normally run our vehicles with just basic liability anyway, so it would seem that there's no problem...
re. belt bolts rusting as you mentioned in another post - been there, done that! As this van's only a couple of years old though it's all rot- free, so I don't think there'll be any problem.
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