# How often do Toyota car airbags deploy without any impact? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [July 2, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121 "2008-07-02T01:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jondubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/94ad74/32.png) [@jondubus](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jondubus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121/1 "2008-07-02T01:59:41Z")
Bizarre, but true. Imagine my surprise: Anyone else have this problem? I bought my RAV4 because of its safety ratings My '07 RAV4 side airbags deployed without anything hitting the car or the car hitting anything else and sustaining NO exterior damage. It “deployed” with a huge bang and knocked me sideways so that I lost control, but regained it and got it stopped before it could crash. I now have a hearing loss in my left ear where the airbag hit. Besides being incredibly frightened, my E.N.&T. doctor said inner ear damage is typical with airbag deployment. Moreover, I’m driving a rental car at my own expense because I’m now afraid of what else could happen; FRONT airbag deploy? This happened three months ago and a Toyota inspector came to take photos-I spoke to him and he could not tell me the cause. So far NO satisfaction from Toyota. Not even a lousy rental. Today I called the TV news media locally and regionally. I’ve also written a letter describing my ordeal to Yukitoshi Funo, CEO of Toyota N. America. I’m wondering why Toyota isn’t tearing my car apart to find the cause, and find out how many more like mine are out there. ---
**Author:** ![Craig58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3da27b/32.png) [@Craig58](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Craig58)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121/2 "2008-07-02T02:07:02Z")
Let us know how the lawsuit turns out. ---
**Author:** ![meaneyedcatz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/meaneyedcatz/32/692_2.png) [@meaneyedcatz](https://community.cartalk.com/u/meaneyedcatz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121/3 "2008-07-02T03:02:37Z")
can’t tell you why it happened but VW’s have this happen sometimes. I’m wondering why Toyota isn’t tearing my car apart to find the cause, …Toyota is a good make but much to several peoples surprise they have thier faults too. IMHO it’s the same thing that all big companies do, deny it as long as they can, unless they are in fact checking this out. Post back w/results ---
**Author:** ![lprocter](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/lprocter/32/40_2.png) [@lprocter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lprocter)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121/4 "2008-07-02T03:05:05Z")
Almost every model of car built with airbags has had at least one vehicle have the airbag(s) deploy when they weren’t supposed to. It’s rare, but it happens, and it seems to afflict every manufacturer equally. It’s a danger in having an airbag equipped vehicle, and no one, not even Toyota, have figured out how to make them 100% perfect. That said, I agree that Toyota should be accomodating you more, especially since your vehicle was so new. There probably wasn’t any specific cause, other than bad luck, but Toyota’s response seems to be very inadequate. ---
**Author:** ![BustedKnuckles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bustedknuckles/32/25_2.png) [@BustedKnuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BustedKnuckles)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-often-do-toyota-car-airbags-deploy-without-any-impact/16121/5 "2008-07-02T03:10:07Z")
Make sure you send a report to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). I’ll bet any other Toyota owners who have had this happen have also sent reports. This is how recalls happen, when enough reports on a specific problem are reported. NTSB may also have a page on unintentional airbag deployment, and more info on what you can do.