So my brother was in an accident today...

He was sitting in traffic on a county road when a car came up and slammed into him from behind, causing the 3 cars in front of him to hit each other as well. Some how he walked away without a scratch, even though his airbags didn't deploy...his poor WRX, his pride and joy, was not so lucky. Some how the motor caught fire and burned his car to the ground. He apparently begged the first cop on the scene to use their fire extinguisher but was denied.

http://s12.postimage.org/f6tpgyo8d/O...rnt_Up_WRX.jpg

Wow! Though I do feel for his pride and joy, his safety is first and foremost and that seemed unscathed. I am glad he is OK.

i understand not leting him do it but the cop should have imo

Yea, Cop should have deff done something. And sorry to hear man but glad he is ok.... Cars can be replaced but brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers can't. Remind him how special he is to you and that well a car is just a car.

Holy crap...hit in the rear, causes car to burn to the ground?!?

Dare i say the cop was right to not get near it...

...besides, insurance will surely grant him a new one :)

time to start carrying your own extinguisher.

I hope he went to be checked out. You never know what kind of injury you could have from that.

Glad he's okay...:wink:

I'm sure he had that helpless feeling as you look into your rear view mirror and know you're gonna get hit, and there's no way to avoid it. Glad he's ok.

Did he have aftermarket fuel lines or anything?

Sorry about the car :( ..Glad he walked away!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IPD

time to start carrying your own extinguisher.

---

I think that might be my next purchase for the VR4.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vr4chick

I hope he went to be checked out. You never know what kind of injury you could have from that.

---

That's what I told him, he said he's going to go see the doc today, hopefully he does.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AdamVR4

Did he have aftermarket fuel lines or anything?

Sorry about the car :( ..Glad he walked away!!

---

I think his fuel setup was stock, but did have a decent little bit of work into, a lot of blood, sweat and tears as well all know and understand well. Car was putting I think 320 to the wheels.

He is very lucky and we are extremely happy he came out unscathed. Does anyone happen to know if airbags usually don't deploy in an accident if the vehicle is stationary? Is it a Suby thing or..?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vantage

Does anyone happen to know if airbags usually don't deploy in an accident if the vehicle is stationary? Is it a Suby thing or..?

---

"It takes a car crash of considerable impact to cause the vehicle's air bag to deploy. A collision of about 12 to 15 miles per hour (mph) against a solid barrier or about 25 mph against another car will cause activation."

Got this off of a website.

Airbags won't deploy if you're rear ended, nor should they. There will typically be far less injuries from NOT deploying the airbag than having it deploy in many rear-end scenarios. As for hitting the car in front of him, he would not have generated enough inertia to propel himself forward at a significant enough speed for the resulting collision with the car in front of him to deploy the airbag, especially if he was stationary and sitting within a car length of the car in front of him.

Just to throw my .02 in, airbags are designed to deploy in zones, based on impact. There aren't really any protections against a rear-end collision since you are already in contact with your seat. Side impacts use side-curtain airbags, Front, front airbags.

There are G-Force sensors located all around the car to determine if a bag should be deployed.

In this case, I would imagine there would be no reason to deploy any airbags. Did his seatbelt retract? I could see that happening. A lot of newer cars have an airbag of sorts in the seatbelt which will tighten down the seatbelt on impact. Still, with a rear impact, that might not deploy either.

Glad he is ok.

^^makes sense guys. thank you.

The easiest way I've found to explain to people about airbags is that there are sensors that have to be impacted in order to deploy the airbags. We'll say for instance that in the front end there are 3 sensors...in order for the airbags to deploy, 2 out of 3 sensors have to be impacted. You can have a front end collision with the airbags not deploying, usually because the impact was too high or low.

Oh man! Glad he walked away. I hope he gets a fat check for all the damages done!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daisy

The easiest way I've found to explain to people about airbags is that there are sensors that have to be impacted in order to deploy the airbags. We'll say for instance that in the front end there are 3 sensors...in order for the airbags to deploy, 2 out of 3 sensors have to be impacted. You can have a front end collision with the airbags not deploying, usually because the impact was too high or low.

---

I mean, he got clipped pretty good, I just had my directions of momentum turned around in my head the other day in relation to him being rear ended, which prompted my air bag question.

Here's a couple more.

http://s14.postimage.org/hkm7rkavl/O...nt_Up_WRX2.jpg

http://s7.postimage.org/a82w5u22j/Ow...nt_Up_WRX3.jpg

I guess the fire department had a pretty good time putting it out. I would assume it's not to often they get to do stuff like this where there's little danger to any civilians so at least they got some good practice messing with it.

For those that have not attempted to put out a fuel/oil fire with a fire extinguisher... NOT gonna happen. I emptied two on a mustang that had an under hood fire in a T-bone accident. Only quelled the flames long enough to get her out...

Foam from the fire dept. was the only thing that put it down, and even then it was a bitch...

Sorry to here about your bro. Glad he got out in good shape!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vantage

I think that might be my next purchase for the VR4.



That's what I told him, he said he's going to go see the doc today, hopefully he does.

---

Guy that caused the accident, his insurance will attempt to deny any medical claims. Always go to the ER when you are involved in an accident. Rear end impacts are worse than front end impacts to due the body structure and the body movements. Sean almost died and he went to the ER. it just took months to find out what was going on.

Yeah, the impact bar isn't even damaged that badly, and that's where the sensors are typically located (around the rails). He's lucky though if he walks away without any issues.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vantage

He was sitting in traffic on a county road when a car came up and slammed into him from behind, causing the 3 cars in front of him to hit each other as well. Some how he walked away without a scratch, even though his airbags didn't deploy...his poor WRX, his pride and joy, was not so lucky. Some how the motor caught fire and burned his car to the ground. He apparently begged the first cop on the scene to use their fire extinguisher but was denied.

---

It is very unsafe to approach a burning car filled with gasoline, I don't blame the cop at all. Hopefully he had full coverage.