Crash dynamic question

Effects

A family member was involved in a crash at the weekend. Her friend was driving. An oncoming vehicle turned right in front of them, onto their side of the road, and they crashed into him. The drivers airbag went off but his head hit the windscreen and smashed the glass. Family member was knocked unconscious and broke her left collar bone.
Is this something that can normally happen in a crash, regarding the windscreen? I'd have thought that with both an airbag and seat belt pretensioners your head wouldn't go that far forward. The car was a 2001 Ford Fiesta.

CiniO

Are you sure driver had his seatbelt on?

punisher5112

Very possible.

Does driver sit really close to steering wheel as I see most women do.

Seat belt may have been on but not correctly adjusted or very loosely fitted.

Mech1

Effects wrote: »

A family member was involved in a crash at the weekend. Her friend was driving. An oncoming vehicle turned right in front of them, onto their side of the road, and they crashed into him. The drivers airbag went off but his head hit the windscreen and smashed the glass. Family member was knocked unconscious and broke her left collar bone.
Is this something that can normally happen in a crash, regarding the windscreen? I'd have thought that with both an airbag and seat belt pretensioners your head wouldn't go that far forward. The car was a 2001 Ford Fiesta.

A lot depends on the angle of attack, too much and no frontal airbag goes off, Head on airbags/ belts do a great job, in between gets difficult the bag, if it deploys, could deflect you but I would expect a well used (as in well put on) belt should catch you before the screen does.

Mech1

Effects wrote: »

A family member was involved in a crash at the weekend. Her friend was driving. An oncoming vehicle turned right in front of them, onto their side of the road, and they crashed into him. The drivers airbag went off but his head hit the windscreen and smashed the glass. Family member was knocked unconscious and broke her left collar bone.
Is this something that can normally happen in a crash, regarding the windscreen? I'd have thought that with both an airbag and seat belt pretensioners your head wouldn't go that far forward. The car was a 2001 Ford Fiesta.

Was the family member a normal / average might be a better word, sized adult?

billie1b

My brother in law had a real bad crash, smashed the windscreen with his head and the drivers door window too, although the seatbelt tensioner worked the clip failed in the buckle and it popped, airbag went off too but he still ended up in an induced coma for a few weeks with skull fractures

Mech1

billie1b wrote: »

My brother in law had a real bad crash, smashed the windscreen with his head and the drivers door window too, although the seatbelt tensioner worked the clip failed in the buckle and it popped, airbag went off too but he still ended up in an induced coma for a few weeks with skull fractures

Bad luck man, sorry to hear that, any recourse on the manufacturer?

Sorry to go off O/P topic.

billie1b

Mech1 wrote: »

Bad luck man, sorry to hear that, any recourse on the manufacturer?

Sorry to go off O/P topic.

No, supposedly its made to pop after an accident to stop people from getting choked and crushing their chest and windpipe if the impact is great enough

Mech1

billie1b wrote: »

No, supposedly its made to pop after an accident to stop people from getting choked and crushing their chest and windpipe if the impact is great enough

Hmmmm..... I have looked at a lot of buckles in my time as a mechanic, never knowingly seen one with that designed in, I honestly dont believe that.

Effects

I'm trying to figure out if he was wearing a seat belt or not. Part of me figures if the family member got a broken collar bone with a belt on then maybe he would have done more damage if he wasn't wearing one. Hard to get the full story from family member and she hasn't even reported it to the Gardaí, two days later. Driver was over the drink drive limit which explains not calling them to the scene but two days later???

billie1b

Mech1 wrote: »

Hmmmm..... I have looked at a lot of buckles in my time as a mechanic, never knowingly seen one with that designed in, I honestly dont believe that.

We dont believe it either to be honest, he went to a few different solicitors about it and all of them said he had no case, it's supposedly a case of bad luck

Effects

Mech1 wrote: »

Was the family member a normal / average might be a better word, sized adult?

Yeah, she is average build. Not heavy or not light either.