AirBag Sensor? Totaled GTP

[jessiebighamKC]

I Totaled the 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP 2door today. Bad thing is no full coverage. Ne ways does anyone kno where the Airbag Sensor is? The airbags never deployed. Wondering if before I bought the car it was wrecked and the sensor was never hooked up or someone cut the airbags out and put the dash and steering wheel back together and took it to a carlot and traded it off. If someone could point me in the right direction with this Id apperciate.

[richtazz]

It's under the driver's seat.

[tblake]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope you and everyone involved is alright.

Did you win the race?

I doubt anyone would go through the trouble of cutting out the airbags which would involve also finding out a way to keep the airbag light from coming on.

[jessiebighamKC]

Yeah, everyone was alright! I was the only one in my car and the women I hit was by herself. Also, I wasnt racing! Thats the bad part about the whole thing. Heres what happened! I pulled up to a four way stop sign and the car to the right of me had their stereo up loud and was bobbin and weaving there heads and I sat there at the stop sign for a good 40-55secs. I looked to the left in the left side of the four way and no one was there. The truck that was straight across from was stopped and started going through the four way intersection. As soon as the truck was passing me I let my foot of the brake pedal and barelly put my foot on the gas and I only got maybe 4feet past the stop sign a women to the left of me(driver side) ran the stop sign and I t-boned her like 2000 Chevy Impala. Messed up her front passenger side door and rear passenger side door. I pulled over and the people that was in the right of the four way from me(that had their stereo up loud) got out and asked if I was alright, I said yes but better go check the other person. So, they did and then they left. Everyone that seen the wreck didnt stay. When the cop finally showed up he gave me a ticket for not yeilding for the women even though she blew through the stop sign and also gave me a ticket for my front tires being bald. By the way he said that if I would of had adequeate tires(thread) I could of stopped properly and its unsafe to have bald tires so he put it off all on me. Any ways I got court in one month and I have to fight the tickets. Also, I really didnt total the car out, I have to replace front bumper, headlights & parking lights & fog lights on both sides and hood, and I could get away with my fenders but Id rather just replace them. If I would of had full-coverage insurance they would of totaled it because of the damage and the car having 207,000miles on it. My question still is........... Why didnt my airbags deploy?

[tblake]

you weren't going fast enought. Simple as that. I think there are multiple sensors on your car. If I remember right, one arms the system when it trips and the other descriminates aginst hard stops and slow speed accidents.

How fast were you going when the collision happend?

I think I would be happy that the air bags didnt deploy. If they did, you would be looking at replacing both of them, seat belt tensioners, both air bag sensors, and probably the air bag module. It gets spendy very very fast.

[richtazz]

I agree Tim. Until the advent of side curtain air bags, they only deployed in severe front-end crashes. The early airbag sensors weren't set up to go off on a side hit, which essentially this accident was even though you hit her car with the front of yours.

[dugan50]

Jesse:
The airbag control unit is located under the Passenger seat, not the driver's seat
The sensors in the control unit need to feel both an impact and an inertia change for forward motion . If the parameters are not met, then the airbags will not deploy.
For someone to take the airbags out and then reassemble the car would be very difficult as the top cover is actually part of the airbag on the passenger side and the driver's airbag is integral to the horn pad.

Check out this website.
http://www.airbagsolutions.com
The purpose of this website and company is to help people diagnose and repair airbag problems themselves without taking them to the dealer (if possible). It offers all the photos and data you need to understand your airbag system, read the codes and reset the light. It’s a pay site, but it certainly is worth the money ($14.95 for 1 day full access)
There’s a place to check if your car is listed on the home page
http://www.airbagsolutions.com/vehicles_list.aspx
This is quite an extensive website with pictures, descriptions and factory fault code charts as well as a working demo @ http://www.airbagsolutions.com/demo.aspx that shows just how easy these repairs can be. Although it does not give step by step instructions, there is enough information in the pictures and the "how-to" pages that most people can do it themselves.
Lots of insurance companies and body shops use this site for the information they need to repair your car.

I hope I’ve helped you