Airbag deploys by itself!!!

I have a 1999 C-2500 silverado pick up that I bought for my company. I bought it brand new in May of 1999. I have owned it and maintained it for all of it's 138,000 miles.

It is mainly used as transportation for my salesman to and from client meetings. He's had the most time behind the wheel from new, maybe 90% of the miles are his.

We had the passenger side airbag deploy while he was starting it today.
No warning at all! Just exploded. The truck was sitting in the middle of the parking area with nothing around it that might have made contact with it.

Thankfully ,no one was getting into the passenger side when it happened. It could have caused severe injury or death if one of my other employees were getting into the truck with a tool in his hand. (which is often the case)

I have contacted GM about this and they're having their legal department contact me concerning this.
I wanted to warn anyone who has one of these about it.
I have 2 other trucks a '01 and a '06 that have a similar system in them. I'm worried about my employees getting into the trucks now and getting injured by these things.

Anyone else have it happen to them?
Thanks,
Will

Why is GM contacting there legal department?

They should be contacting there service department to find out why it done it.

Air bags are just like a loaded shotgun shell or hand gernad.
You pull the trigger or pin and they will go boom.

Get it to a good service department and have them check it out on a good SIR scanner and find out why it went boom.

The Sir air bag scanner will have the answer in it.

Let us know what they find out.
MT

Why is GM contacting there legal department?

They should be contacting there service department to find out why it done it.

Air bags are just like a loaded shotgun shell or hand gernad.
You pull the trigger or pin and they will go boom.

Get it to a good service department and have them check it out on a good SIR scanner and find out why it went boom.

The Sir air bag scanner will have the answer in it.

Let us know what they find out.
MT




ya this is GM once again showing us their real concern for its buyers safety , of its vehicles...


they should have made arrangements to have this investigated....the legal department was notified so as to limit their losses.....


what happens if this air bag should deploy when doing hwy speeds....



I'm surprised that they did not say it's to be expected on a vehicle that old you should buy a new vehicle...

I don't understand? I haven't heard anything from GM?

I would think that they would be concerned about the safety of their customers. The deployment was pretty violent from what my employee told me. He still has trouble hearing out of his right ear and it's been 4 days or so.

The person I sopke with at GM made it sound like it's a common problem and they have a standard proccedure to handle the stiuation. I just want to know what caused it to explode. I have 2 other trucks with a similar system. I don't want someone to get injured or worse.

Do you think i should contact an attorney?
Thanks for the responses.

If a employee was injured contact your insurance agent.

As to the air bag going off it should be checked out by your dealer ot a a good repair shop to find out the why.
It looks like gm or your dealer would want to check it out and find out why.
Good Luck
MT

I don't understand? I haven't heard anything from GM?

I would think that they would be concerned about the safety of their customers. The deployment was pretty violent from what my employee told me. He still has trouble hearing out of his right ear and it's been 4 days or so.

The person I sopke with at GM made it sound like it's a common problem and they have a standard proccedure to handle the stiuation. I just want to know what caused it to explode. I have 2 other trucks with a similar system. I don't want someone to get injured or worse.

Do you think i should contact an attorney?
Thanks for the responses.


I would make a written report to NHTSA...then contact an attorney that is familiar with this type of vehicle defect injury....I'm sure that they will listen to your compliant for free ....then go from there....the hearing loss must be proven of coarse...this should be workman's compensation case..

O.K.
The latest update.
GM called and set up an appointment with an engineer from an independent company to look at the truck to determine what caused the involutary deployment.

I don't get a good feeling from this guy (the engineer).
He calles himself " THE AIRBAG POLICE "!

He had me confused with another person who hit a dumpster that caused his deployment. WTF.
My truck was sitting in the yard!

I will keep everyone posted as to the outcome. If this is something that can happen spontaneously..you or your loved ones, employees, etc. are in danger of getting injured by this.

I would make a written report to NHTSA...then contact an attorney that is familiar with this type of vehicle defect injury....I'm sure that they will listen to your compliant for free ....then go from there....the hearing loss must be proven of coarse...this should be workman's compensation case..

A complaint was filed yesterday. They don't seem too concerned?
"Just fill out the paperwork and send it in."

I am concerned that this will happen to someone while a passenger is getting into the truck. Can you imagine what would happen if your child was getting in and the airbag deployed?

What if he/she had a plastic toy/cell phone in their hand. The force of the airbag could make it a leathal weapon!

O.K.
The latest update.
GM called and set up an appointment with an engineer from an independent company to look at the truck to determine what caused the involutary deployment.

I don't get a good feeling from this guy (the engineer).
He calles himself " THE AIRBAG POLICE "!

He had me confused with another person who hit a dumpster that caused his deployment. WTF.
My truck was sitting in the yard!

I will keep everyone posted as to the outcome. If this is something that can happen spontaneously..you or your loved ones, employees, etc. are in danger of getting injured by this.


make copies of all his findings with his name title and employer listed ... report all this to NHTSA...also do not sign anything...they may try to get out of liability on your employees hearing loss ...be cautious.....I would give a written statement of exactly what happened signed by you and the injured employee....that way they can't say/report something different...


my guess is that a wiring problem caused the deployment ...but i'm not an air bag expert........I did a little search on hearing loss with air bag deployment and this is common hazzard of these devices.....

O.K.
The latest update.
GM called and set up an appointment with an engineer from an independent company to look at the truck to determine what caused the involutary deployment.

I don't get a good feeling from this guy (the engineer).
He calles himself " THE AIRBAG POLICE "!

He had me confused with another person who hit a dumpster that caused his deployment. WTF.
My truck was sitting in the yard!

I will keep everyone posted as to the outcome. If this is something that can happen spontaneously..you or your loved ones, employees, etc. are in danger of getting injured by this.


Good grief
Never heard of the Air Bag Police.
I would be ware of a deal like that.
Gm may be looking for a way out on there end.
It would look to me like a good GM service department would have a trained SIR /Air bag system tech that could ckeck it out and get to the cause of it.
If you have good insurance they would/will be holding the bag on it.
I would contact your insurance agent and let your insurance agent in on the hole thing.
And go with what they say to do.
Good Luck and let us know how it goes.
MT

Met with the AIRBAG POLICE on Friday.
Results...He's forwarding the download to Chevrolet and will get back to me.

Talked to the guy from Chevy today.." I don't have the info yet from the AIRBAG POLICE so I can't do anything yet" ????

Figures.

I can tell you that there were no signs of any damage on the underside of the truck, as was suggested by the AIRBAG POLICE.

Update,
GM admitted the airbag should not have deployed all by itself. They could find no reason that it did.
I guess that's comforting?

I'm waiting for their offer...what ever that means???

Update,
GM admitted the airbag should not have deployed all by itself. They could find no reason that it did.
I guess that's comforting?

I'm waiting for their offer...what ever that means???

you must report this to NHTSA ....this will keep GM from taking advantage of you and your injured employee...and alert other owners and also force GM to find the exact cause of air bag deployment.....your actions may prevent a serious accident or injury by properly reporting this...unknown is unacceptable..........

you must report this to NHTSA ....this will keep GM from taking advantage of you and your injured employee...and alert other owners and also force GM to find the exact cause of air bag deployment.....your actions may prevent a serious accident or injury by properly reporting this...unknown is unacceptable..........


I agree, I have file a report of incident with the NHTSA. They didn't seem real concerned???
Frankly, I'm surprised.
With the possible ramification of death or serious injury, I figured there would be an army of investigators on this????

As far as I know, this is the only passenger side spontaneous deployment so far?? At least that is what I'm told.
There have been driverside deployments due to corrosion or the module under the driver's seat getting wet.

I want to get this info out so everyone can be aware. This isn't supposed to happen. As rare as this is ,it could have been much worse if someone was getting in at the same time the airbag deployed.

Just an update, sorry i haven't followed through in a timley fashion.

Most recent update concerns GM. They offered to buy my truck for $ 1,900.00. They said that's all it's worth???
I would think it would be worth more than that in parts alone?
They claim the cost to repair/ replace the airbag exceeds the value of the truck.
I was able to locate a complete set, the passengers airbag, drivers airbag and the module on e-bay for approx. $ 100.00.
I read through a manual and it looks like a 2hr job to replace all 3 components?

Where do they come up with this stuff ( GM)?
The truck is worth a lot more to me than $ 1,900.00. Where am i going to buy one to replace it for that amount ?

I have contacted the Attorney general of the State of maryland and i would hope someone there understands the implications of this defect.

It's funny, nobody really seem to give a damn??

you can part out the truck and get more cash than what gm says its worth. I am hoping there are more thay 19 parts that can be sold for 100 bucks or more.

Go to nadaguides.com and get the value of the truck and present it to your attorney to work with. BTW there in no requirement that makes it necessary to replace the SIRS unless you sell the truck then you must disclose it.

Just an update, sorry i haven't followed through in a timley fashion.


Where do they come up with this stuff ( GM)?
The truck is worth a lot more to me than $ 1,900.00. Where am i going to buy one to replace it for that amount ?

I have contacted the Attorney general of the State of maryland and i would hope someone there understands the implications of this defect.

It's funny, nobody really seem to give a damn??


this may seem that no one cares,, but this is a very important stuff...I get a kick out of GM trying to buy you out for 1900.00....

the air bag most likely was defective and deployed by itself...the NHTSA organization should be called to report all that occured...and what injuries where suffered...


GM should not have totalled this vehicle for an air bag deploying..I believe they have full knowledge of why this occured...


there is no reason not to repair this and keep your vehicle...

perhaps the attorney general in Maryland and the local news stations would like to know about how GM treated you...