I got hit in the right front side of car and airbags did not deployed, Sustained neck, shoulder, chest injury. I also had seat belt on. Looks like it is totaled also. Just like the person from Union City,NJ
Regular airbags only deploy in frontal crashes. If the angle is far enough off from a direct frontal crash, they won’t deploy.
That was a side impact, I suppose you do not have side impact airbags
That Hyundai has front, side and overhead airbags, per reviews. (They should be labeled, so the owner can verify.) NHTSA rated it as 4 of 5 for side impact (slamming into the doors at 38.5 mph), other rating agencies show poor overall side protection, or a C grade, which was rated on his accident… poor torso side protection.
If there was not a person (over 100 pounds) sitting in the passenger seat, the airbags would not deploy. Since 1999, airbags are less likely to deploy and are independent. This is to minimize injuries from the bags deploying when not useful. Your seat belt retractor should have engaged, tightening your belt. On some later cars, the headrest will pop up to minimize head snap.
If you’d been hit on the driver’s side, the side bag(s) should deploy. Sometimes getting side popped at the car’s extremes (e.g. front bumper/fender), or a glancing blow, won’t engage air bags. Many bags have 2 deployment circuits (low and high speed), and it tries to give minimal force to the bag.
They aren’t like in Demolition Man, where you are surrounded in protective foam. When these blow, they explode from behind a plastic panel. One of my co-workers had the front driver’s bag blow and ended up with 2 black eyes and a laceration from the horn cover smashing her in the face. (She’d hit a tree, so maybe saved her life.)
The 1999 law lessened the chance of deployment due to cars striking road hazards w/ the underside of the car and bags deploying uselessly. You can imagine how embarrassing that was for the driver.
This article is informative…
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@mperry_153483 is right on. The sensors in the car determine if the accident is severe enough to need the airbags and also if they will help. Air bags are not gentle fluffy bags, they explode violently with bruising to the face, maybe a broken jaw. BUT the trade off is saving a life, a trade I will take any day. Based on your post, you were on the left side of the car, hit from the right side, the air bags would not have done anything to protect you the driver, the car was smart enough to determine that and did not deploy the air bags.
There is a current recall on my 2010 Kia Forte for replacing the airbags wiring harness. NHTSA Recall Number: 18V363. There may be a similar Recall for it’s Hyundai “Cousins”.