Mustang crunched my Prius yesterday!

Does your car have side curtain airbags and the drivers side didn't deploy? That would be bad. I don't see why front bags would deploy from a side impact like you described.

 

If the impact was hard enough that your driver hit his head it seems to me they should have deployed. Please keep us posted what Toyota answers regarding this.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident.

The side airbag sensor is on the B pillar so if that was not impacted, that might explain why the side airbag did not trigger.

 

Was recently in a similar accident with my 2008 (was a Chihuaua, not a cell phone, but you get the idea); other driver turned left into me.

Hit on the B pillar, and let me tell ya, when the side bags go off, they go off with authority. Between the seat bag causing the seat to explode and the side curtain causing the roof to explode, it's pretty wild, definitely a lot of airborne debris whipping by. The curtain went off hard enough to just about put me into the passenger seat.

So yeah, just to answer your question, they sure do go off.

Bummer about your accident, and it did take about 18 days and US $14K to fix mine.

Airbags are the most expensive part; for example, if the seat bag goes, the field-replaceable unit is actually the whole seat.

 

LUCKY1 - very sorry to hear about your loss. here in the so-cal area, we have a law AGAINST talking on the phone (holding a cellphone) while driving, but if you look around, many people are doing just that. Hope your prius is NOT totalled and can be repaired quickly. Good luck to your driver and hope he/she heals quickly too.

 

Sorry to read about that.

 

Any pics for us to see the damage of your Prius here?

 

It sounds totaled to me. It is possible that it would be fixed though since the airbags did not go off.

 

The side curtain airbags and side airbags are there to prevent serious injury and death, if neither occurred then they weren't needed and may have caused worse injury if they did deploy.

Thankfully everyone walked away from this one, I have been to an accident where a driver on the phone sent 4 other people to hospital and 2 came out of hospital in boxes, one of those was only 4 years old. That is why using a hand held phone is illegal in Australia. This is why I show no mercy when I catch a truck driver on the phone.

I actually hope your car is written off and you get enough to buy a new one from the insurance.

 

It's kind of amazing how people don't seem to realize what will happen to the dog sitting in their lap if the airbag goes off (even in smaller accidents). From what I'm told, it isn't pretty. It's sad really, since it probably means a lot of dogs are injured/killed due to the owners simple ignorance/negligence.

I'm convinced it's closer to 70% (you have to account for the drivers who come under that "I have to get through even though the light I'm headed towards just turned red" mindset easily), and this appears to be due to the emphasis on looking at whats in front of you instead of total situational awareness around you. Cell phones just seem to exacerbate this reduction in awareness. Good luck on getting it fixed.

 

stupid people on there phone.

the worst ones are the texters.

I have been guilty of using the phone to talk in the past while driving, but I rarely even use the device anymore..and just went to a cricket pre paid.

cell phones stink

 

I have a good quality hard wired hands free kit in my car which makes all the difference when talking on the phone. If you're not straining to hear the other party then it isn't an imposition on the driver.

I'm no scientist so I don't understand why it is but there is something about holding the phone to your ear which causes your concentration to switch from driving to the conversation. I found several times prior to the law against hand held phones that if I was using a hand held phone while driving I would end the conversation and have to take a moment to get my bearings. The phone has dominated my thoughts, this doesn't happen when I use the hands free.
There is also the issue of laws which can be enforced. How do you detect a person using a phone with a hands free kit? I often use hands free while stationary at work, leaving both hands free to take notes. A ban on hands free kits would impair my work.

Back on topic, Lucky, what ever gets you back on the road soonest then mate, lets hope for that. I was just thinking how hard it is to get a badly crashed car back to driving well.

 

Sorry to hear about the accident. It could have been worse, but I am glad that your driver did not suffer any serious injuries. I hope he gets checked up at the hospital as a precaution...you know, pain may not appear a few days after the accident.

I almost got t-boned by an inattentive honda driver that almost ran a red light as I was making a left turn. I heard the wheels screeching to a stop...and I just had to step on the accelerator to get out of the way.