Seat Leon (08) Euro ncap

Silenceisbliss

Hi guys,

I just wanted to post up a query about the Seat leons safety. (and sorry for spelling, im wrecked)

My two sisters were in an accident today, both were sitting in front and had collided with an oncomming car due to oil slick and water on the road. The oncoming speed of both cars was approx 50-60km/h each, when both cars had collided side to side (both cars going sideways), due to over steer in a bend on the slippery surface.

looking at the euro ncap, here, I notice that the leon should provide good protection to the head and thighs, due to the airbag technology onboard.

the thing is, The airbags didnt even deploy at that speed of this collision, where the leon supposidly got FULL marks on side collisions.
both my sisters got bad cuncussions as a result of very localised head injuries and quite a bit of heavy bruising on arms and thighs.

is the airbag accelerometer generally unidirectional then? should the airbags have gone off in this case, or is it not uncommon for airbags to be this conservative?

the car is writen off now.... 2008 black seat leon.... just waxed it myself too... and just filled the tank last night.... ugh

Anan1

It's hard to say, although your description of the injuries would make me think that the side airbag should have gone off too. Are you quite sure that the side airbag didn't go off? Did the car have curtain airbags?

Silenceisbliss

well, my dad and colleague (both mech engineers) arrived on scene with the emergency services, and seemingly the chassis integrity wasn't comprimised much at all. On the side of the impact, the cage was still intact, the door was just a bit stiff to open said my sister.... her collor bone was broken...but my dad said it was stiff too.

No airbags though. My dad will get me pictures tomorrow, by their descriptions; it was largly the rear of the side of the car that ws most damaged.

sorry, i typed this wrong... there are side curtains in the seat...but they didnt go off no.

EPM

Firstly, hope your sisters feel better soon. Nasty scare. You'd imagine the airbags would have gone off alright but there can be instances where they dont go off as they will do more damage than good. From Seat forums I haven't read anything like that about the airbags before but keep us posted on what happens!

The Real B-man

Airbags in my old 01 Seat Ibiza didnt Deploy either at 60kph car was a right off i was fine no bruises or anything.

It goes to show the car did its Job Occupants are not Killed or Seriously injured Its impossible to tell if the Airbags went if it would of prevented a Broken Collar bone unless the Mechanism of injury is determined.

Darsad

Air bags have very specific and strict deployment criteria and as a previous poster said
it may in many cases be more detrimental for an airbag to deploy than not. There are many parameters that have to be met at the time of impact for the airbag to deploy the most important of which in the case of a forward facing airbag is the rate of deacceleration and angle of impact which is usually set at 30 degrees either side of the centre line , so in an impact at 31 degrees no deployment will take place regardless of how severe the impact is. Side airbags have similar criteria including a structual deformation tolerance which one can only assume may not have been met in the case of your sisters unfortunate accident. many people are of the opinion that air bags are these great big marsh mallow like pillows that you could fall asleep on while waiting for the cops top arrive they are not and in themselves can kill.

Silenceisbliss

my sister brokeded our car....







poor car....

EPM

Thats bad.lucky to walk away

mickdw

The impact angle looks wrong for the air bags. The back corner took the hit so the front or side airback would have been of no use so not designed to off in that type of impact id say.
You say the oncoming speed of both cars was approx 50 to 60 kph. Im not sure whether you mean closing speed (combined) or that each car was doing 50 to 60. In the latter case, the clsong speed would be 100 to 120 kph. If that was the case, death would have been likely. Looking at the car, its not so bad and Id say a closing speed of about 70 to 80kph i.e. each car sliding at 40 kph (about 25 mph). This wouldnt typically result in severe injury.
The most important point here is that no one is badly injured. You should be on here praising the leon after them both walking out of it instead of wondering whether it performed as it should.

Silenceisbliss

in response to darsad and mickdw, cheers for the description. I totally get and understand that airbags are not in the least bit pleasant, I get thats it is essentially a bomb going off in front off you, a loud prucussive bang, and a rapidly pressurising envirnment.... but I was just wondering why they didnt go off?... like what the criteria are. Airbags are there for a reason, I wasnt questioning or faulting the car as such, (did a bang up job with its structural integrity)

Like darsad pointed out with the directional tolerances, I didnt realise that. I just thought that if the accelerometers registeres any abnormally high acceleration, that would be enough. but ya, makes sense now that you say it.

also, It was singular speed of 50-60. so combined of let's say 100km/h. again.... good job seat!