I went to have a look at a Mondeo for parts that had rear ended a bus.
The guy said his niece had hit the bus at around 60 k's. Strange thing
was the airbags hadn't gone off. Do they have a set speed they go off or
could it have been disconnected?

This is the damage to the vehicle

http://i8.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ef/9b/eacf_1.JPG
http://i20.ebayimg.com/08/i/000/ef/9d/0571_1.JPG

^Tems^ wrote:

They are triggered by deceleration.

Doesn't look too bad from a passenger/driver POV. The bus must have have
been moving at the time, or the car hit a very soft part of it.

Sylvia.

"^Tems^" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4828e87b$0$22174$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

Looks like you have either the sensor system disconnected, or you have a dud
sensor
A key element is that the crash forces are equivalent to a head-on collision
with an immovable barrier at 15 - 20 kilometres per hour.
Because a typical automobile accident only lasts about 0.125 (1/8th) of a
second, air bags deploy within 15 to 20ms after the initial crash impact.
They deploy at around 300 kph and deflate around 100 ms after impact

The bags have no set speed at which they off. I have seen the bags deployed
by hitting a parking kerb. It is the rate of deceleration that sets them
off. In many collisions like the one the Mondeo you pictured was in, the
bumper of the front vehicle was higher than the bumper on the Mondeo . The
crumpling of the sheet metal guards and bonnet gave a slower rate of
decleration than there would have been if the impact had been directed to
the bumper and chassis. The car doesn't look too badly hurt. Just
hopefully no injuries to any people.
Scott

"^Tems^" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4828e87b$0$22174$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
:I went to have a look at a Mondeo for parts that had rear ended a bus.
: The guy said his niece had hit the bus at around 60 k's. Strange thing
: was the airbags hadn't gone off. Do they have a set speed they go off or
: could it have been disconnected?
:
: This is the damage to the vehicle
:
: http://i8.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/ef/9b/eacf_1.JPG
: http://i20.ebayimg.com/08/i/000/ef/9d/0571_1.JPG

Ford say that airbag deployment is over 70Kph on the Laser range. Id imagine that it would be the
same for the Mondeos.

Sensors are mounted on / near front / side rails note that they didn't
take any impact.
All soft impact above.
Their for no trigger.
If you get cheap parts have the time would be a feasable repair if the
car was worth it ...........

"^Tems^" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4828e87b$0$22174$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

It's the rate of decelleration that determines if the bags go off, as well
as the speed.

In that accident the bags shouldn't have gone off because the impact was
absorbed by the panels.

"ausmartin" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:96158c83-3221-4bf0-976d-4f83f6254104@w8g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

Is that an assumption on your part?

On quite a number of vehicles (Holden, Mercedes to name two) the airbag
sensing module which incorporates the sensors is in the centre of the car.

"ausmartin" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:96158c83-3221-4bf0-976d-4f83f6254104@w8g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

Impact sensors are sometimes placed under the dash area

"Klompmeester" andwhy.com> wrote in message
news:dIWdncA-PYW4-LTVnZ2dnUVZ_jydnZ2d@posted.internode...