Collided with a rock, airbag deployed, now what??

[Stanley]

I was driving along earlier and drove over a rock in the road at 30mph which contacted the underside of the car on the crossmember behind the engine, and set the passenger seat airbag off.

Needless to say my drivers seat is now brown....

Its an Audi A3 1.8T Sport 3 door on an S plate.

Airbag light is on (not that i need a small light on the dashboard to tell me my airbag has deployed), seat is ripped to hell, airbag is hanging out.

Will it just be a case of a new seat and then reset the airbag ECU?

 

[pj123]

Can you post some pics?

The dodgy connectors below the seat sometimes can cause the airbag light to come on, but when you clean the connector the light goes out on its own without clearing the fault code so I believe you will just need a new seat or part of a seat.

 

[Stanley]

Ill try get some pics.

Id imagine itd be a case of resetting the ECU. Is this possible with NAZI (VAG) COM? Id have thought it will stay on even with a new airbag as it was due to an impact that the airbag has deployed.

 

[pj123]

It'd be the sensor that I'd look at. I think it just activates when a certain amount of side force is exerted in a short period of time (shock). I think the sensor remains intact and will work after. If you are concerned you can just reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery for 15 mins and this will clear any fault codes. (make sure you have your radio code first)

 

[pj123]

Its the lateral acceleration sensor that you'd be checking. It does require the seat to be removed according to the manual.

Download the Audi A3 General Body Assembly Interior Manual. I've lost the link to it but I've seen it on this forum somewhere. Has everything to do with removing seats, airbags etc...

 

[pj123]

Found it in my bookmarks.....audi a3 workshop manuals to download...

 

[TDIQ]

Can the car only set off certain airbags then depending on impact? I'd have assumed all of them went off. Also, are the seats ruined if they do deploy?

 

[NHN]

The airbag controller will need either replacing or resetting by some companies that offer this service as it will have a log of a fired bag, you cant do this yourself unless you have the knowledge & tools of which vagcom will not do.

You'll need a new side airbag, new seat cover if its of the kind that rips through as eg. S3 recaros were a seperate bolt on iirc from mine, potentially new sensor aswell.

 

[8YA335TDI1STED]

Can the car only set off certain airbags then depending on impact? I'd have assumed all of them went off. Also, are the seats ruined if they do deploy?

depends which sensor/s are activated = which airbag/s go off