airbags question

oflynno

if a car is crashed and the airbags go off,is the car instantly written off?

also if the airbags are replaced again,does the car have to be okayed by an auto engineer or what is the story?

is there someone who has to be informed of the change of status of the car when the repair is completed

tvm

mickdw

Not instantly written off. Its all based on cost to repair & whether it is ecomonical or not to do it.
I think certain categories of write off have to be inspected before some insurance companies will issue a policy again.

Saab Ed

Like all repairs it will depend on the worth of the car prior to the accident. If the combined cost to repair the damge is more than the worth of the car then an insurance company will right it off.

When airbags go off its not just the airbags themselves that have to be replaced , its also the airbag computer and the pre-tensioner under the seat. This is a device that recoils the seatbelt and pins you into the seat if an accident happens. It also gives the airbag the time it needs to deploy.

So long as all the parts that are activated with the airbags are replaced by the repair agent then theres no need to worry, you dont have to show an engineer or the like the finished work.

robtri

Saab Ed wrote: »

Like all repairs it will depend on the worth of the car prior to the accident. If the combined cost to repair the damge is more than the worth of the car then an insurance company will right it off.

When airbags go off its not just the airbags themselves that have to be replaced , its also the airbag computer and the pre-tensioner under the seat. This is a device that recoils the seatbelt and pins you into the seat if an accident happens. It also gives the airbag the time it needs to deploy.

So long as all the parts that are activated with the airbags are replaced by the repair agent then theres no need to worry, you dont have to show an engineer or the like the finished work.

Spot on....
only thing i will add is that the cost of repair doesnt have to exceed the value of the car, a lot of insurance companies use 60% of the value as the threshold to declare the car BER (beyond economical repair)
not technically a true write off, but thats usually what people are told, your cars written off..

the airbag man

there are 2 types of write off
financial write off when the cost of repair is too great.
and structural write off when the mainframe damage is too great - of course this can break down into many different things.
when the airbags blow the cost of repair soars so it is really up to the insurance assessor to decide the car's fate.
Sometimes they will sell it off for a trade repair, sometimes they will repair it (as some airbags - depending on the age make and model of the car) might not be too expensive.
If airbags are professionally and properly replaced there should never be any problems with them until the next accident happens, when they will work as required.
Having repaired a great many vehicles I would advise always to get an engineers report confirming the vehicle was properly repaired, in case any problems occur in the future. Some insurance companies will ask you to do this anyway, or you may be asked to provide this report in order to re-tax the vehicle if it has been off the road, or the paperwork was sent in to the authorities in order to reclaim the tax or to claim the vehicle was written off.