I totaled my car.. no air bag deployment

[arewhyfour]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I bought a 2004 Chevy Cavalier brand new in Feb of 04. On Dec 31 of this year I wreck it.

The breaks pads have been gone for about a week now and I could hear a grinding sound. I was waiting to get that fixed next week when I was off work. Well some of my friends and I were traveling down a road when the road suddenly dips and changes into gravel. So I put on the breaks, but they don't catch well, so I hit the emergency break. The car goes up an embankment, hits a telephone pole, and flips. The air bags didn't deploy after we hit the telephone pole.

Everyone is ok beside minor cuts, bruses, and soreness. My question is, do you think I have a case against the manufacter because the air bags didn't deploy or that the breaks didn't last that long.

And also I wasn't wearing a seat belt (I'm not sure if he put I did or didn't on the police report) but if I was I wouldn't have been able to get out of the car. I was driving.


EDIT: I ment to add, when I got my car they had to get a gas cap off another car, and disable the alarm for not having a gas cap. When the dealer did, and ever since then, the air bag light has been on. I had no idea what that light was for, but apparently after doing research it means the air bags wont deploy.

 

[tabathadolley]

So you were driving the car for 10 months or so with the air bag light on??

 

[arewhyfour]

I didn't know what it ment.

 

[tabathadolley]

If you do a search on this site, and online you'll see that it can be hard to determine if an airbag should have gone off when it doesn't in an accident.

In ten months time, I can't imagine not at least asking what the light was on for - you could have asked when you had your oil changed! It just seems negligent to me to simply ignore it for ten months.

It was also unclear from your post whether your car was hit in the front. But, even if it was that wouldn't mean the airbag would have deployed anyway.

And from what I have read, an airbag won't do you much good if you aren't wearing your seat belt. Why weren't you wearing it?

 

[tabathadolley]

Read this page, it has some helpful info: http://www.safetysystemservice.com/FAQs.htm

 

[Rhubarb297]

FYI, a "brake" is what you have on your car. A "break" is what you take when you've been working real hard and want to rest.

 

[PissedOff@DTV]

What is the name of your state? Georgia
Everyone is ok beside minor cuts, bruses, and soreness. My question is, do you think I have a case against the manufacter because the air bags didn't deploy or that the breaks didn't last that long.

First off, I want to say that you and everyone else are lucky to not have recieved much worse injuries.
Second, it is not the manufacturer's fault you neglected to have your brake pads changed. From what you have said, it sounds to me that you would have had to pay alot more $$ to get your brakes fixed since you waited so long..(i.e. getting the rotors turned/or replaced, plus the cost of new brake pads)
And third, alot of airbags have a sensor that is connected to the driver's seatbelt latch. See, airbags cost alot of money to replace ($1,500-3,000+) thus manufacturer's thought it to be a wise thing to make it where you need your seatbelt on in order for it to work. If let's say, for some reason you have your car started, park it facing down hill, get out of the car with it still running, car slips out of park for some reason, car rolls down hill and hits a tree...airbag will not go off. Say your car is valued at $5000. The tree causes $2500 of damage. Insurance would pay to fix it. Say the airbag would have deployed and for your model of car, it costs $3000 to replace. $2500 + $3000 = more than the car is worth = car is considered to be totaled.
See, basically put, if the airbag would have gone off in your case, it could have done more harm than good.

EDIT: I ment to add, when I got my car they had to get a gas cap off another car, and disable the alarm for not having a gas cap. When the dealer did, and ever since then, the air bag light has been on. I had no idea what that light was for, but apparently after doing research it means the air bags wont deploy.

You should have went back to the dealer as soon as the light came on, regardless if you had an idea or not. So therefore by your lack of tending to the problem, your airbag would probably not have deployed even if you had been seatbelted.
Therefore as I see it, you have no airbag or brake claim.
sorry. and remember... Click it or Ticket!