Stupid hypersensitive pedestrian collision bonnet airbags
Discussion
Hi All
I've had my 2011 Jaguar XF 3.0D S since March and, like many who researched their purchase in advance I'm sure, I was aware of the danger of triggering the bonnet airbags but never thought it would happen to me.
Starting out on a 3 hour drive from the south-west to Hemel this morning at 4am, I stupidly decided to nip though the very twisty single track lane to save myself 5 minutes. First tight bend and there's a fox in the middle of the road. It dived for the hedge, I swerved in the opposite direction as far as I could, and literally clipped it gently at about 10-15 mph.
BANG
Bonnet blows, hazards on, very loud profane exclamation. Look in the rear view mirror, fox trotting off like nothing happened.
No damage to bumper, no mark at all.... are these stupid things meant to be this sensitive????
I've had my 2011 Jaguar XF 3.0D S since March and, like many who researched their purchase in advance I'm sure, I was aware of the danger of triggering the bonnet airbags but never thought it would happen to me.
Starting out on a 3 hour drive from the south-west to Hemel this morning at 4am, I stupidly decided to nip though the very twisty single track lane to save myself 5 minutes. First tight bend and there's a fox in the middle of the road. It dived for the hedge, I swerved in the opposite direction as far as I could, and literally clipped it gently at about 10-15 mph.
BANG
Bonnet blows, hazards on, very loud profane exclamation. Look in the rear view mirror, fox trotting off like nothing happened.
No damage to bumper, no mark at all.... are these stupid things meant to be this sensitive????
jof said:
No damage to bumper, no mark at all.... are these stupid things meant to be this sensitive????
How's the car meant to know you hit a fox, not a child?If you want to blame anybody, blame the stylist who drew a bonnet line low enough that there's no room for the bonnet skin to deform and absorb energy before that small pedestrian head-butts the chunky and unyielding mechanicals beneath...
Or the fox. You could blame the fox.
TooMany2cvs said:
jof said:
No damage to bumper, no mark at all.... are these stupid things meant to be this sensitive????
How's the car meant to know you hit a fox, not a child?If you want to blame anybody, blame the stylist who drew a bonnet line low enough that there's no room for the bonnet skin to deform and absorb energy before that small pedestrian head-butts the chunky and unyielding mechanicals beneath...
Or the fox. You could blame the fox.
DonkeyApple said:
Tony Blair is the reason the fox was there in the first instance.
Is he also to blame for the system being set up so as to destroy the bonnet hinges rather than having the scope to deal with this eventuality? If so, he got sworn at very loudly in the early hours if this morning jof said:
Didn't set out to apportion blame, but of the two - I'm going with the fox
Well, if the stylist had allowed more space, the pyrotechnics wouldn't have been needed to get even such a fairly ho-hum pedestrian score.2010 - 15.6pts, 43%
https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/jaguar/xf/1101...
EuroNCAP said:
However, tests showed that the system was not as sensitive as Euro NCAP now requires...
2012 model year - 22.2pts, 62%https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/jaguar/xf/1097...
EuroNCAP said:
When the car was tested in 2010, the system was not as sensitive as Euro NCAP required. Jaguar have made improvements to the system and demonstrated to Euro NCAP that the car now triggers when the car impacts a broad range of pedestrian statures, and over a wide range of speeds. ... The results are noticeably better, especially in the area of the bonnet likely to be struck by a child's head.
TooMany2cvs said:
jof said:
Didn't set out to apportion blame, but of the two - I'm going with the fox
Well, if the stylist had allowed more space, the pyrotechnics wouldn't have been needed to get even such a fairly ho-hum pedestrian score.2010 - 15.6pts, 43%
https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/jaguar/xf/1101...
EuroNCAP said:
However, tests showed that the system was not as sensitive as Euro NCAP now requires...
2012 model year - 22.2pts, 62%https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/jaguar/xf/1097...
EuroNCAP said:
When the car was tested in 2010, the system was not as sensitive as Euro NCAP required. Jaguar have made improvements to the system and demonstrated to Euro NCAP that the car now triggers when the car impacts a broad range of pedestrian statures, and over a wide range of speeds. ... The results are noticeably better, especially in the area of the bonnet likely to be struck by a child's head.
I still do believe it's somewhat oversensitive, but I suppose better too much than too little when it comes to pedestrian safety.
Interestingly the Main Dealer estimate (without sering the car) has just come in.... wait for it.....
c.£2000 - more like double if the bonnet is doomed!
Crazy
As a comparison.. trusted specialist Indy using tested used parts... change out of £500 (if the bonnet's ok)
Edited for typo
I recall the horror story about the Nissan R35 GTR that had a low speed shunt in traffic causing minor damage to the bumper but had a £20k repair bill thanks to various rams , electronics and hinges that needed replacing . You can actually buy the kit to switch them off on R35's and 370z due to people worrying about this , but for me thats why we have insurance
Not so bad at all. Lucky the bonnet wasn't damaged.
While it's not something I'd wish to disable... would be good to dial down the sensitivity a touch.
Where I live it's pretty common to hit rabbits/badgers/foxes etc. And even with no body damage, three or four hundred pounds a time (depending on parts availability) is a bit of a ball-ache
Yes, yes - of course I'd rather that than kill a child etc., but there are plenty of stories of random activations. Shame there's no fix availabke
While it's not something I'd wish to disable... would be good to dial down the sensitivity a touch.
Where I live it's pretty common to hit rabbits/badgers/foxes etc. And even with no body damage, three or four hundred pounds a time (depending on parts availability) is a bit of a ball-ache
Yes, yes - of course I'd rather that than kill a child etc., but there are plenty of stories of random activations. Shame there's no fix availabke
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