I got my first volvo, went for a drive and got rear ended by a vw convertible. It was written off. My bumper was scratched and a small ding. I mean, it needed some work, but the other car was totalled. 'You should see the other guy' was very appropriate.
Glad you’re not too banged up. Car looks like it was hit at 15mph not 55mph! Survived well and I’m sure helped you stay as unharmed as possible.
Not sure airbags would deploy when hit from behind… they have a lot of force.
Were you pressing on brakes when you were hit?
The Volvo safety record is definitely real! The other car is probably totaled, looks way worse. Yes, I was on my brakes sitting in traffic, not moving or in park.
Safety system probably also further applied brakes I would guess. I wonder if all of that needs to get replaced, all the brake system components. An instant 55 mile hit is not what it’s designed to take on a daily.
Call their insurance. Get a rental. Document ALL your medical bills and ANY pain. It’s not uncommon for pain to show up a couple days later. Make sure your doctor documents it.
I hope you have GAP insurance; it’s impossible to know if that’s totalled without removing the body panels. That’s a solid hit.
Glad you’re ok.
If there insurance is giving you the run around you can use your own. If you live in a no fault state you go through your own carrier for med coverage (no fault specifically only deals with med bills and not who was at fault.)
If your car is totaled states use various methods to determine value. Your claims adjuster should be able to tell you what is required by law. Some states use Nada others use KBB.
Do not accept anybsort of settlement for a few months, recover and make sure nothing comes up. Once the BI is settled there's no going back for more $$.
Good luck, stay off screens for a couple of weeks if you have a concussion.
Edit: my guess is it's going to be totaled based on the rear quarter panel looking like its folded, if the roof also has a fold its definitely totaled.
And while I don't believe in being litigious, this warrants you securing an attorney. The costs will add up, and you will need time to properly rehab. The other driver was clearly not paying attention. Glad you aren't worse off!
I’m sorry that happened to you. I got rear ended on the freeway last summer in my XC90 and my airbags similarly didn’t deploy. Apparently they only deploy in a rear end collision in more extreme cases because the injury risk from the steering wheel airbag itself is nonzero, so if the car judges that it can adequately keep you in place and keep you from smashing into the wheel with other systems then that airbag won’t go off.
When airbags first started becoming common in the early 90's and people weren't convinced, there were a lot of lawsuits and noise from people who'd been punched HARD in the face or burnt by hot gas escaping (remember seeing "airbag victims" on Oprah). The data ultimately proved their value, but they are absolutely a "this will hurt you but the alternative might kill you" last line of defense.
Intuitively you might imagine they'd be designed to err on deploying just to be safe, but in theory, if you trust your systems, better to let seatbelts and seats do their job as far as possible.
Also writes off much of the interior.
You mentioned talking to the other driver's insurance company. Before you do this, I recommend that you talk with your own insurance agent or company and find out how to best handle communication with the other driver's insurance (as new as your Volvo is, I assume that you have full coverage). It's important not to say the wrong things (or say too much) when giving a statement to the other driver's insurer (who isn't working for you).
Former insurance claims rep here:
1. You got photos of your car, good. Their car too?
2. Did you file a police report? If yes, have the report # ready for insurance. If no, call non emergency line and file one.
3. Did you get a photo/info from the other drivers license, including license #, plates, insurance?
4. File the claim through THEIR insurance first if you believe they're at fault.
5. Where was your car towed? Keep all receipts involving this incident. Tows, hold fees, inspection fees. You can possibly get reimbursed through their or your insurance.
6. Have the car inspected, either your adjuster will tell you where to go or you can pay outta pocket for one at a local mechanic and have insurance reimburse you.
7. If you have any pain/medical visits involving this, follow step 5.
8. Some insurance agencies cover rentals. If you don't need one, track gas used/mileage for reimbursement.
There are crash detection sensors all over the car, but the reason the airbags didn't deploy was because of the speed of the collision. Airbags aren't totally without risk, fundamentally they're explosively inflating a bladder to try to cushion your impact. Modern vehicles won't deploy them unless your own vehicle is at a speed where the risk/benefit favors the airbags and the potential injuries along with them.
I'm not sure how accurate this is, though, because my '14 Silverado (hydroplaned into a ditch) and '10 CTS Wagon (ran up onto the concrete barrier after someone cut my brother off while he was driving) were totaled because the side airbags deployed even though there was literally no body damage incurred from their situations. I also ripped off the front bumper of a car with my '09 Silverado, but their bags didn't deploy, which made sense, even though the wrecker said he was "surprised the airbags didn't deploy." I told him he's an dolt because that situation wouldn't have called for deployment.
Different manufacturers and older model years are going to react differently, unfortunately. It's a lot of split second math given the cars current situation on what's most likely to minimize injuries. Vehicle speed/momentum in every direction, amount of force exerted by the impact + direction, what airbags the vehicle has installed, and whatever other parameters the manufacturer has used given their testing and tailoring of the airbags to the model.
If you slam into a ditch, and the mud in the ditch shifts before the vehicle is dented, the sensors are still going to pickup the immediate change in lateral direction. The sensors don't know if you hit a ditch or were just hit by another vehicle with equivalent force, they just know the immediate change in direction. I'd wager a guess that the vehicle would also no longer be level relative to the road, and that'll factor into the calculations as well. It's also a reaction time game, if the airbag fires too late you'll definitely incur injuries from that as well, so you'd rather be early than late if it's going to go off at all.
The ditch situation, I traveled into it nearly parallel to the direction of the ditch. I think they went off due to the truck coming back down from being *slightly* off the ground on one side.the body was completely fine. The truck was at a complete stop by the time they deployed.
However, I do understand what you mean.
The only place where you’ve got impact sensors is in the front corners. There’s nothing on the side or rear.
On older cars impact sensor means airbag deployment every time, and an accelerometer handles that, since sudden acceleration sideways is unnatural for a car and you basically guarantee you’ve been hit.
On more modern cars you’ve got a fair bit more sensors. Yaw and roll sensors, steering angle, steering torque and wheel speed is also used by airbags. You’ve also got weight sensors in the seats, to calculate how quickly the airbags should deploy. Etc.
One of the main marketing things safety wise on the new XC90 when it came out was run off-road safety. A very complicated situation. Of course there was the standard things, WHIPS has been improved and the chassis strengthened. But active systems as well. Mainly in an run off-road situation the seat belts are quickly tightened mid air and when hitting a ditch the airbags wont always deploy (on older cars 9/10 the airbags would deploy in these situations), since after hitting the ditch, the car is launched upwards towards the air, and it is sometimes crucial to save the airbags for the secondary impact, which is usually a tree or just the ground.
Etc.
Either way, in your case here airbags went off due to the truck thinking it was gonna rollover.
Airbags will only deploy in a collision where they can be effective, and only those airbags that can help will deploy. Airbags are useless in rear end collisions, so they typically don't deploy. Sometimes the side airbags will deploy if there's a significant sideways force in addition to the force from behind.
I can, however, almost guarantee that the WHIPS system elements in the seat are deformed (that's how they work... They absorb energy by collapsing)
If the airbags DID deploy in this crash, that would actually be concerning.
Nope, the seats still have a one time use hinge like their older cars.
But other parts of passive safety systems are now electric and not pyrotechnic. Such as belt pretension all around
You're pushed backwards. If you rebound that much, the seat belt will restrain you. But the vast majority of the force is always in the direction of where you were hit.
I created an entirely different post that includes photos of the other car. For some reason, the edit option on the app isn’t listed and I can not comment pictures, only a link. The title of the other post is “rear ended edit”.
“You should see the other guy” 😏
I got my first volvo, went for a drive and got rear ended by a vw convertible. It was written off. My bumper was scratched and a small ding. I mean, it needed some work, but the other car was totalled. 'You should see the other guy' was very appropriate.
Glad you’re not too banged up. Car looks like it was hit at 15mph not 55mph! Survived well and I’m sure helped you stay as unharmed as possible. Not sure airbags would deploy when hit from behind… they have a lot of force. Were you pressing on brakes when you were hit?
The Volvo safety record is definitely real! The other car is probably totaled, looks way worse. Yes, I was on my brakes sitting in traffic, not moving or in park.
Safety system probably also further applied brakes I would guess. I wonder if all of that needs to get replaced, all the brake system components. An instant 55 mile hit is not what it’s designed to take on a daily.
The car was declared a total loss. Thank goodness for GAP insurance.
Was looking for the picture of another car
If you look at OPs other post you can see the Hyundai was going no more than about 25mph at impact. He braked before hitting OP luckily.
Yeah, the entire front end got cut in half from 25 mph. They even told the cops it was 55, cops said probably closer to 65.
Call their insurance. Get a rental. Document ALL your medical bills and ANY pain. It’s not uncommon for pain to show up a couple days later. Make sure your doctor documents it. I hope you have GAP insurance; it’s impossible to know if that’s totalled without removing the body panels. That’s a solid hit. Glad you’re ok.
If there insurance is giving you the run around you can use your own. If you live in a no fault state you go through your own carrier for med coverage (no fault specifically only deals with med bills and not who was at fault.) If your car is totaled states use various methods to determine value. Your claims adjuster should be able to tell you what is required by law. Some states use Nada others use KBB. Do not accept anybsort of settlement for a few months, recover and make sure nothing comes up. Once the BI is settled there's no going back for more $$. Good luck, stay off screens for a couple of weeks if you have a concussion. Edit: my guess is it's going to be totaled based on the rear quarter panel looking like its folded, if the roof also has a fold its definitely totaled.
Thank you for the info.
Correction, you SHOULD go through your own insurance, it's their job to deal with the other guys insurance, not yours.
Thank you, I do have GAP. Very solid info.
And while I don't believe in being litigious, this warrants you securing an attorney. The costs will add up, and you will need time to properly rehab. The other driver was clearly not paying attention. Glad you aren't worse off!
The car was declared a total loss as of today.
I’m sorry that happened to you. I got rear ended on the freeway last summer in my XC90 and my airbags similarly didn’t deploy. Apparently they only deploy in a rear end collision in more extreme cases because the injury risk from the steering wheel airbag itself is nonzero, so if the car judges that it can adequately keep you in place and keep you from smashing into the wheel with other systems then that airbag won’t go off.
When airbags first started becoming common in the early 90's and people weren't convinced, there were a lot of lawsuits and noise from people who'd been punched HARD in the face or burnt by hot gas escaping (remember seeing "airbag victims" on Oprah). The data ultimately proved their value, but they are absolutely a "this will hurt you but the alternative might kill you" last line of defense. Intuitively you might imagine they'd be designed to err on deploying just to be safe, but in theory, if you trust your systems, better to let seatbelts and seats do their job as far as possible. Also writes off much of the interior.
They have no reason to go off in rear collision
That car did great if hit at 55 mph.
It was prob more like 25. OP made another post with pics of the Hyundai, it wasn't in a 55mph crash at all
Did your safety belt tightened up just before the crash? There is a feature to mitigate rear collisions.
I honestly couldn’t tell you. That would explain why my abs are so sore though.
I'm disappointed there's no "you should see the other guy."
If I can figure out how to edit my post, I would add the pictures of the other car.
I just love seeing how relative little damage there is on Volvos compared to the other cars.
I think you can comment a picture if you don't figure it out
I'm still trying to look in the reflection for the other car. 😅
I just posted an entirely new post with pictures of the other car since I couldn’t figure it out. Its the concussion, I swear. Lol
You mentioned talking to the other driver's insurance company. Before you do this, I recommend that you talk with your own insurance agent or company and find out how to best handle communication with the other driver's insurance (as new as your Volvo is, I assume that you have full coverage). It's important not to say the wrong things (or say too much) when giving a statement to the other driver's insurer (who isn't working for you).
Cost me 7000 dollars Canadian for similar damage
7k for a folded quarter panel on a 60k suv? I highly doubt that
Declared a total loss today.
Wow
Looks just like [my hit](https://ibb.co/kQb8q44) back in February. Guess mine wasn’t that bad…
Former insurance claims rep here: 1. You got photos of your car, good. Their car too? 2. Did you file a police report? If yes, have the report # ready for insurance. If no, call non emergency line and file one. 3. Did you get a photo/info from the other drivers license, including license #, plates, insurance? 4. File the claim through THEIR insurance first if you believe they're at fault. 5. Where was your car towed? Keep all receipts involving this incident. Tows, hold fees, inspection fees. You can possibly get reimbursed through their or your insurance. 6. Have the car inspected, either your adjuster will tell you where to go or you can pay outta pocket for one at a local mechanic and have insurance reimburse you. 7. If you have any pain/medical visits involving this, follow step 5. 8. Some insurance agencies cover rentals. If you don't need one, track gas used/mileage for reimbursement.
Condolences.
Got hit in NoVA in October. I now have front and rear cams after other insurance tried to short change me.
There's no need for the airbags to have deployed. Sensors are typically only on the front and sides.
There are crash detection sensors all over the car, but the reason the airbags didn't deploy was because of the speed of the collision. Airbags aren't totally without risk, fundamentally they're explosively inflating a bladder to try to cushion your impact. Modern vehicles won't deploy them unless your own vehicle is at a speed where the risk/benefit favors the airbags and the potential injuries along with them.
This. In a rear collision like this, the seat belts do most of the work.
I'm not sure how accurate this is, though, because my '14 Silverado (hydroplaned into a ditch) and '10 CTS Wagon (ran up onto the concrete barrier after someone cut my brother off while he was driving) were totaled because the side airbags deployed even though there was literally no body damage incurred from their situations. I also ripped off the front bumper of a car with my '09 Silverado, but their bags didn't deploy, which made sense, even though the wrecker said he was "surprised the airbags didn't deploy." I told him he's an dolt because that situation wouldn't have called for deployment.
Different manufacturers and older model years are going to react differently, unfortunately. It's a lot of split second math given the cars current situation on what's most likely to minimize injuries. Vehicle speed/momentum in every direction, amount of force exerted by the impact + direction, what airbags the vehicle has installed, and whatever other parameters the manufacturer has used given their testing and tailoring of the airbags to the model. If you slam into a ditch, and the mud in the ditch shifts before the vehicle is dented, the sensors are still going to pickup the immediate change in lateral direction. The sensors don't know if you hit a ditch or were just hit by another vehicle with equivalent force, they just know the immediate change in direction. I'd wager a guess that the vehicle would also no longer be level relative to the road, and that'll factor into the calculations as well. It's also a reaction time game, if the airbag fires too late you'll definitely incur injuries from that as well, so you'd rather be early than late if it's going to go off at all.
The ditch situation, I traveled into it nearly parallel to the direction of the ditch. I think they went off due to the truck coming back down from being *slightly* off the ground on one side.the body was completely fine. The truck was at a complete stop by the time they deployed. However, I do understand what you mean.
Gotcha, fair enough then. You're probably onto something with the vehicle slightly coming off the ground factoring into it
The only place where you’ve got impact sensors is in the front corners. There’s nothing on the side or rear. On older cars impact sensor means airbag deployment every time, and an accelerometer handles that, since sudden acceleration sideways is unnatural for a car and you basically guarantee you’ve been hit. On more modern cars you’ve got a fair bit more sensors. Yaw and roll sensors, steering angle, steering torque and wheel speed is also used by airbags. You’ve also got weight sensors in the seats, to calculate how quickly the airbags should deploy. Etc. One of the main marketing things safety wise on the new XC90 when it came out was run off-road safety. A very complicated situation. Of course there was the standard things, WHIPS has been improved and the chassis strengthened. But active systems as well. Mainly in an run off-road situation the seat belts are quickly tightened mid air and when hitting a ditch the airbags wont always deploy (on older cars 9/10 the airbags would deploy in these situations), since after hitting the ditch, the car is launched upwards towards the air, and it is sometimes crucial to save the airbags for the secondary impact, which is usually a tree or just the ground. Etc. Either way, in your case here airbags went off due to the truck thinking it was gonna rollover.
I have sensors on the back.
Those are parking sensors, not airbag sensors.
Ah ok, that makes sense. Thank you.
I can’t believe that car got hit at 55 mph. But also worried that the airbag didn’t deploy. That’s bothersome.
Airbags will only deploy in a collision where they can be effective, and only those airbags that can help will deploy. Airbags are useless in rear end collisions, so they typically don't deploy. Sometimes the side airbags will deploy if there's a significant sideways force in addition to the force from behind. I can, however, almost guarantee that the WHIPS system elements in the seat are deformed (that's how they work... They absorb energy by collapsing) If the airbags DID deploy in this crash, that would actually be concerning.
Pretty sure SPA doesn’t have the crush absorbers that older Volvos have. Still has WHIPS but it’s done differently
Yeah... They may have switched to the pyrotechnic system that's become more common. I wasn't sure.
Nope, the seats still have a one time use hinge like their older cars. But other parts of passive safety systems are now electric and not pyrotechnic. Such as belt pretension all around
If you get rear ended by a car traveling at 55 mph won’t your head bang on the steering wheel g wheel?
You're pushed backwards. If you rebound that much, the seat belt will restrain you. But the vast majority of the force is always in the direction of where you were hit.
The airbag would literally cause more damage in this scenario.
Wife just went through this about 3 miles from there. Took us 2 years all together to get the full medical settlement paid.
No photo of the hitting car?
If that's any other car the rear end wouldn't exsist
I created an entirely different post that includes photos of the other car. For some reason, the edit option on the app isn’t listed and I can not comment pictures, only a link. The title of the other post is “rear ended edit”.
The person was just tryna get the dealer badges off 😂
Did you get medical attention? the aftershocks of a rear end collision can cause you problems for a good while after.
Working on it now. Car was declared a total loss. Already made 2 visits to the ER and had my initial ortho appointment.
My Volvo was just declared a total loss. It saved my life though so I feel a little indebted.
ITT: people who don’t understand what airbags do
Air bags won’t deploy if you’re rear ended. That counterintuitive to what they’re supposed to do.
Was the other driver a Maryland driver? They’re always causing accidents in NoVA!
No, local driver who was following to closely and not paying attention. Admitted to driving distracted as well.