Audi A4 written off cat B, no airbag deployed

[BlueCalipers]

I had quite a bad car crash in my Audi A4 resulting in it being classed at a Category B write off

stated below is the guide to CAT B

Body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable. Should never re-appear on road, although reclaimed parts can be used in other road-going vehicles.

I was driving in the right hand lane of a 40mph two lane carriageway, a white van was in the left lane, without looking he veered into my lane hit my passenger side, resulting in my car hitting concrete posted signs head on, and ripping them out, my car then ended up in a ditch, thankfully I wasn't too hurt, my issue I'm quite concerned about is that none of my airbags deployed, if they had I wouldn't have the injuries I do.

I'm in communication with Audi already but I wonder if anyone thinks like me after seeing my photos, they should have deployed. 

Audi are investigating the issue.

I would just like some opinions while I'm waiting for them to get back to me.

 

Photos are attached 

Edited July 26, 2017 by BlueCalipers
Photos not showing

[Steve Q]

Welcome to the forum Kelly :) 

sorry to hear of your accident. My dad had a similar incident in his 20-3 a3 on a motorway. Again it wrote the a3 off and just like you the airbags didn't deploy. In my dads case the car hit the barrier head on then spun round. 

Audis are built well but one thing I would ask the insurance company is whether their assessment is based on a visual check or if they have dismantled the car.

Again in a real life example I had an accident in a 2008 Suzuki swift and the insurance company told me it was written off. I didn't buy it and asked them whether they had dismantled the car. 

Needless to say they hadn't dismantled it and it transpired it wasn't even a write off! They discover this after they had dismantled it! Due to the palarva I got compensation from the insurance company due to the way I had been treated and for them taking so long to fix the car! 

Hope iv helped a little. And hope the situation is resolved quickly. 

Cheers

steve

[Trevor]

Hi Kelly....welcome to the Forum

Sorry to hear about your accident but at least you walked away and it could have been worse I suppose?

You don't say what speed you were when you hit the posts (although you were probably preoccupied with everything going on at the time and didn't have time to look at the speedo), but if you managed to scrub off some speed before hitting them and it was then below a certain speed the airbags may not have needed to deploy (e.g. below 15mph).

Looking at the damage, it doesn't look too bad on the front as though it was considerably high speed otherwise the damage would have been much more severe so this leads me to think that you may have scrubbed off sufficient forward speed. The damage always look more severe as the front end is designed to fold and absorb the impact energy.

However, the side damage does look quite severe as though the van hit you quite hard?

Let us know how you get on with it all

Cheers,   Trevor

 

[Dan3222]

Hi Kelly,

I believe air bags are deployed more as a result of a very rapid reduction of speed and it looks like your car kept going while mowing down obstacles in its way therefore there is no trigger for the air bag deployment. There is a chance btw your face would have been more of a mess (assuming it's not after the accident) if the air bag deployed, a pal of mine had his nose broken plus two immense black eyes.! 

I have posted the pic of my last T5 in which I hit a tree dead central in the front of the van, however as this was part of a spin again there was not a very rapid deceleration plus by the time I hit the tree it was estimated I was only doing 20mph. I was very upset as I lost £3k I had just spent on the van. Don't accept the first payout offer!! Do your homework and search the net for similar cars with mileage and spec to be able to quote when the time is right to your insurance company. I hope the van driver is sorry!! At the end of the day it's just bent metal, nobody seriously hurt but it is still rubbish to go through.

Best of luck, Dan

 

[Dan3222]

Last night my pup Dalmatian was hit at 50mph plus and also dragged under the car for several meters. I don't unfortunately have her insured and they are about to operate for the second time today!! It is amazing she is still alive tbh.

My point of this post is that the front of the fellas car looks almost as bad as yours......Genuinely, you wouldn't believe it!! I have to pay for that as well. Guess I am working for nothing the next few weeks 😬

[Trevor]

Sorry to hear about your poor dog  Dan3222 ... hope all goes okay 

[Dan3222]

Cheers Trevor,

I didn't mean to try hijack Kelly's thread, just seemed quite apt to mention it. So, quick update is she is somehow still alive and has even stood up today. 

But, if there is any update on her I will put it into one of my threads. let Kellybhave her thread back, sorry Kelly, genuinely hope you get the answers you need.

Update us with your outcome :-)

Dan

[Joe Cott]

Kelly, always haggle, haggle, haggle with the insurance company as they never offer their highest price at first.

 

On the poor damaged dalmation; that's really hard luck dan does the home insurance not cover your dog's accidental damage? or was it not at the house so not relevant?