[screaminVDUB]

Air bags have gone wild. My brother was driving me and my fiancee to the airport. He left the airport and was doing about 70mph on I-78 and all of a sudden loud explosion and smoke inside the cabin. All electronics shut off and call stalled. Scared the s**t out of my brother. He managed to pull over to the side without causing an accident. Passanger side curtain and seat air bag have deployed.
When I came back from vacation, I took the car to the dealership and told them the story. All the dealer said to me is that the car is a 2001 and its out of warranty. I got pissed and told him to give me his name along with the number to VW of America. Called up VW and they said to take it to the dealer and they will determine if the vehicle wasn't in any accident and if not than VW will cover all the costs. Took the car to Bernardsville VW on Tuesday morning and later that afternoon got a call back saying that VW will cover all costs. Should have the car back by Friday.
here are some pics at the dealership:

 

[CapeGLS]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (screaminVDUB)

Actually more common than it should be. There is sometimes a short in the electrical system. Good thing no-one was hurt and that VW is covering it!!! Just remember you will have 1 new seat and 1 old seat!!!!
I would try to talk with them to replace both fronts so they at least matched! Take the route that it happened and it could happen again, and that you want yours done while its in for the fix which is ovbiously a problem!!!

 

[Dan Halen]

See signature.
Glad to see you weren't given the "impact was registered- call your insurance company" runaround.

 

[Braga_Dub]

Re: (BRM10984)

I hope that never happens to me...
I got into an accident a while back, enough for 7K in damage, and not a single airbag went off...
I guess if they ever go off on me for no reason I am SOL...

Congrats on having VW fix it! I hear horror stories about VW denying everything.

 

[mschaff]

Re: (Braga_Dub)

I guess what's really scary is if the airbag deployment actually *causes* the accident that VW claims is why your airbag went off.

 

[kungfoojesus]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (CapeGLS)

Quote, originally posted by CapeGLS »

Actually more common than it should be. There is sometimes a short in the electrical system. Good thing no-one was hurt and that VW is covering it!!! Just remember you will have 1 new seat and 1 old seat!!!! I would try to talk with them to replace both fronts so they at least matched! Take the route that it happened and it could happen again, and that you want yours done while its in for the fix which is ovbiously a problem!!!

Actually they just replace the panel on the side of the seat.

 

[CapeGLS]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (kungfoojesus)

Quote, originally posted by kungfoojesus »

Actually they just replace the panel on the side of the seat.

I bet you can walk into the shop and watching one of the tech's stiching the torn leather!!!

 

[VW LVR]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (screaminVDUB)

weird...

 

[abydielsgli]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (VW LVR)

craziness. but at least no one got hurt

 

[screaminVDUB]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (kungfoojesus)

Quote, originally posted by kungfoojesus »

Actually they just replace the panel on the side of the seat.

I believe they will stitch is up. It didn't look like leather got ripped, just the stitching.

 

[BigSue]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (screaminVDUB)

Hey there, I don't think this is an anomaly. There have been threads here previously on spontaneous airbag deployment. Apparently, VW is being investigated by the feds for it, also.
Here's the pertinent part that I read in an issue of Autoweek:
"Federal safety officials say they are investigating more than 100 complaints that side-impact airbag systems in some Volkswagen cars deployed without a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its investigation covers 2001-03 Golf, GTI and Jetta cars.
The complaints include reports of 19 injuries from deployed airbags, the agency said. The system consists of a seat-mounted airbag and an airbag curtain on each side of the car."
Let us know what the dealership says because I've hit a few bumps driving through Detroit and was waiting to hear the explosion

BigSue

 

[Fugee]

Re: Air Bags gone wild (BigSue)

That sucks to hear..they have to pay for that..not the first nor the last case