Questions and Answers

Ford Mustang Airbag Deployed, No Start Q. Vince, My son took my Mustang out for a drive one day, hit a patch of ice, then hit a pole, airbags deployed, but the car kept running. He was going slow, coming out of turn, so the damage was not too bad. He was able to drive it home but once he shut it off we have not been able to turn it back on. 1999 Ford Mustang GT 4.6 liter V-8 Automatic transmission 35,000 miles

I was wondering why the airbags even deployed since the pole came in contact with the driver's side fender, where it meets the door. The damage was only to the fender, not the door nor the hood. In fact I pulled the fender off and there is no visible damage to the frame.

More importantly, I was also wondering why the car will not start. I have full power to lights, horn, etc. and even tried jump starting the car. My initial thought was that there is some sort of airbag safety switch that needs to be reset. The car does not crank at all, as if the battery was dead. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Neil
Rockland County, NY

A. The vehicle should start even with deployed airbags. However, when the airbags deploy they almost always cause damage to the steering column and wiring harness. Air bags put out a tremendous amount of force in a very small period of time. Frontal air bag deployment takes approximately 30-55 milliseconds. It takes 100 milliseconds, or 1/10 of a second, to blink an eye. Front air bags are designed to deploy in frontal and near-frontal collisions equivalent to about 12 miles per hour into a fixed barrier.

So I would check the steering column and wiring harnesses for damage. I would also look in the area of the collision to see if the wiring harnesses in that area have been damaged.

Added 3/13/2004

All fixed! There was some wiring on the section under the fender that was covered up by tubing The tubing looked fine but the wires under the tubing were broken. Patched the wires and the car started right up!! You are good!!!