Airbag on 01 Jetta RANDOMLY deployed??? *UPDATE*

[TonyD]

Hey guys. 1st post here and new to this site. I run around on one of the "other" BigSky sites mostly. My sister rocks an 01 Jetta. She called me tonight and said when she was driving down the road, her passenger side curtain airbags just deployed out of nowhere. She said the seat ones deployed as well and she was pretty sure that there were 3 total. I read a little bit online that these models might have issues with this, but I was wondering if anyone here had heard or knew anything about it??? Thanks guys! BTW, Killer site and some sweet ass rides!

[sneakyboy1]

WOW, that's kinda scary!!!
Maybe an electrical malfunction? Has she had any previous accidents in the past with the car?
I bet that scared the crap outta her!
Hopfully someone else on here might have some input.
Glad to see a BSS guy stop in! I am Corey's(Skapunker) boss.

[TonyD]

Oh nice! No previous accidents, but it was purchased as a used car. All the stories I have read online are pretty similar to hers and seem to be 00 to 04's. Trying to figure out if there is anything that she can do.

[sneakyboy1]

Where does she live? She should take it to an authorized VW dealership/mechanic and have it checked out by them. It's possible there was a recall or something.
Maybe Brandon(Kompressorgolf) has more info on it?
Hope someone can chime in and help ya out a little more.

[kompressorgolf]

i havent heard of ANY of these happening, there arent any recalls on sporadic airbag deployment. its strange, esp since it was the side bags, ill check more into it

[TonyD]

There are no recalls because I checked that first. I googled it, haha, and found a couple of horror stories of people almost causing accidents and stuff. Here's a few.
http://www.complaints.com/directory/200 ... /30/14.htm
http://www.fixya.com/cars/t3848110-airb ... eployed_no
And the investigative report.
http://cbs2chicago.com/investigations/V ... 16841.html
Kinda crazy shit cuz it sounds like she is kinda screwed. I'm callin the VW dealer here today. I'll keep ya guys posted.

[kompressorgolf]

if the dealer acts like they wont do anything, ask for a contact number for the VW rep from that district, and stir shit up that way.

[TonyD]

Word. They are saying that they have heard of this, but that she had to have hit a pothole or something. If she has full coverage though... Maybe... Just maybe, this will total out the car??? Hmmmm....

[kompressorgolf]

It wont total it. it takes quite a bit. i do all the VW body orders at the dealership, and ive seen some of these go through that shouldve been scrapped big time. one was an 03, t-boned pass side, needed the floor metal firewall full side, fender, door trim, doors, headliner, all new airbags, etc etc, and they still fixed it.

[TonyD]

So far it looks like we have to take it in to a VW dealership. If they decide its mechanical failure, she is screwed because insurance won't cover it unless she actually hit something. It being an 01 and bought used I am sure that she would need to pay for it. I'm actually going up to see her this weekend so I'll know more when I can actually take a look at it myself. Do any of you know what areas of the car would need to be hit in order for the side airbags to go off? What I'm wondering is if a pothole could cause that.