Twingo Airbag sensitivity? South African content...

[Gordini_SA]

Greetings from South Africa fellow 133'rs.

Have a technical question to ask about the sensitivity of the airbag system in the Twingos.

This weekend my wife phoned me and told me that she was driving along and all of a sudden her curtain and side airbags on both sides of the car deployed.
Car is 2013 model Phase 1 Twingo 133 Gordini. She was driving on a straight road and suddenly heard a loud "boof" and suddenly the car was filled with smoke
and the bags were out. She said she never felt any impact and on inspecting the vehicle when I got there I found no damage to the car at all except a curb like ding
on the left front wheel. She was far from the curb and said she couldn't have clipped it as it it really high and would have eaten the front bumper and side sill as the
wheels sit a bit inset. Only thing it could have been was a piece of a brick found in the road about 50m from the car?

My question is could this impact to just the wheel and tyre cause both sides of the curtain and side airbags to deploy? Luckily the steering airbag and passenger one stayed
intact or the car would be written off I suspect. Anyone else had any experience with clipping a curb or pothole or debris in the road that cause airbag deployment?

Thanks!

 

[DrDrew]

Not heard of a small piece of debris setting off the airbags before. We've got some pretty monster pot-holes over here which I'd imagine cause a greater jolt than knocking a small piece of debris and still don't set off any airbags etc.

 

[manofhow]

ther was a guy who managed to set off his airbag when he (in his own words forgot how to drive) and clipped a roundabout and that set his airbag off and that if i rememeber was just a wheel impact


just found it ( Unfortunately I momentarily forgot how to drive last night and managed to clip a curb on a roundabout which set the passenger seat airbag off. Car damage is minimal but the engine wont start due to the airbag.)

 

[DrDrew]

ther was a guy who managed to set off his airbag when he (in his own words forgot how to drive) and clipped a roundabout and that set his airbag off and that if i rememeber was just a wheel impact


just found it ( Unfortunately I momentarily forgot how to drive last night and managed to clip a curb on a roundabout which set the passenger seat airbag off. Car damage is minimal but the engine wont start due to the airbag.)

Well remembered.

From this thread https://www.twingo133.net/post82832.html

 

[rcr484]

Wow, never thought that something like this could happen.. :shock:

 

[Gordini_SA]

Thanks for the replies guys. Left front wheel has quite a bad kerb dent in it. So maybe the impact from the third of a brick that caused the wheel to bottom out. Will await the report from the assessor and from Renault and let you guys know. What's worrying me is the drivers side curtain and side airbags deployed as well - should have been one side only.

 

[Gordini_SA]

Not heard of a small piece of debris setting off the airbags before. We've got some pretty monster pot-holes over here which I'd imagine cause a greater jolt than knocking a small piece of debris and still don't set off any airbags etc.

Here in South Africa potholes are a common sight as well and we have hit quite a few with the car in the months we have had it and no issues at all.

 

[manofhow]

ther was a guy who managed to set off his airbag when he (in his own words forgot how to drive) and clipped a roundabout and that set his airbag off and that if i rememeber was just a wheel impact


just found it ( Unfortunately I momentarily forgot how to drive last night and managed to clip a curb on a roundabout which set the passenger seat airbag off. Car damage is minimal but the engine wont start due to the airbag.)

Well remembered.

From this thread https://www.twingo133.net/post82832.html

i used the search feature

 

[Forza]

Few weeks ago I had to avoid another car (who was driving on my side of the road from the opposite direction). I Managed to avoid an accident but I hit the side-curb (about 15cm high) hard with my right front wheel. The wheel and tyre had to be replaced, but the airbag didn't deploy. So I guess you had to have hit something very hard to get the airbags out.

 

[Gordini_SA]

I sent Renault SA full photos of the whole car. Asked them to look into why so many airbags came out and if it was just the wheel that got clipped why did all the bags come out and not just the passenger side bag. Waiting for the panelbeater's report as well. I'm sure they will check the Airbag modules which will tell us where the impact was.

 

[user 980]

You should have switched the wheels around and denied any knowledge of clipping/hitting anything