Spontaneous Airbag Deployment

Hello all,

I have a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer. I currently live in the Gulf (Qatar). A few days ago, I was out driving in the desert with my friend and his 60+ mother. In this desert there's a “highway” comprising of heavily compacted sand, but along the way you'll have to negotiate a few minor dunes (up to about 10 feet high, but with a shallow incline). It was when we negotiated one of these dunes that my side curtain airbags (both sides) spontaneously deployed. Obviously, it scared the living cr.p out of us.

After we realized what happened, I drove the car a few feet to a safe area and inspected the car. There is absolutely no damage the bodywork or the undercarriage of the car and the car drives perfectly. The only visible damage is the obvious from the deployment of the airbags and the fact that the front seat belts have locked up, rendering them useless.

The car is still under warranty and I took the car back to the dealer. He agreed that it was a warranty issue. He sent me to the service center, but the guy there said that it was my own fault and that it is NOT covered under warranty (although the mechanic at Chevy disagreed with him). I realize that there's a certain potential of damaging your car when driving off road, and I had anticipated a lot of scenarios, but definitely not this one.

I have driven quite a bit in the desert in this car, and done maneuvers that are more demanding than this one, but due to my friends older mother's wish to “just see” the desert, we took an easy drive.

Now my questions are as follows:

1)The service center has pulled the Event Data Recorder (EDR) and says that, if it shows that I have been in a situation where the airbags should deploy, the warranty will not cover. My feeling is that, of course, the EDR will show that the airbags should deploy, otherwise it wouldn't have deployed. Does anyone have any experience with faulty sensors on this kind of car? I know in some cases there have been issues when the sensors have been wet, but what about dust?

2)The Gulf is a bit of a wild west, in terms of consumer rights. If they continue to claim that this was my own fault, is there anyone at GM here in the states that I can contact, in order to have them assess the situation?

Finally, I would much appreciate if any of you experienced off roaders out there have any ideas or suggestions on about how to go about this.

Thanks a lot..  

Wow, that is kind of scary! Yeah, I have no idea about the legal system there and how supportive they are of consumer rights. I just PM'd you the contact info for the GM Middle East PR rep. I think he deals more with issuing press releases than dealing directly with the public, but he might be able to steer you in the right direction. Hope it helps.  

It might not be as bad as you think. The EDR shows speed, rpm, transmission and transfer case position, even G-forces at the time of the "event". This should show that you did nothing and the airbag deployment was a mistake. Having your dealer stand behind you is a big help.  
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Thanks all, for the replies to this post, I thought I'd tell what the outcome has been.

After a long battle, meaning several trips to the GM Service Center, GM still refused to cover the repairs under warranty and still maintained that I couldn't see the report from the EDR. After 6 weeks, I still had nothing in writing from GM, meaning I had nothing to show to my lawyer, which would be the next step. I decided to "force" them to give me something in writing and  therefore I wrote them a mail, which I CC'ed to the Communications and Public Relations Manager General Motors Middle East. I still didn't hear anything from them. Then I decided to query as to why I had not received a reply to my mail. Two days later I received a mail from the area tech & warranty manager for Doha, asking me to bring my car in for repair.

I went to see the gentleman, expecting nothing. To my surprise he told me that GM had decided to cover all costs related to the repair (ie. reimbursing me for the new seatbelts and installing new side curtain air bags).

I was told that GM still maintained the view that the car had done as it was designed to do, but purely to keep me as a good customer, would they cover my expenses under a different budget (something along the lines of "customer satisfaction-budget).

Long story short, I take the blame and they pay the costs. The only problem with this solution is: What if this happens again??

All in all, I'm happy with the result, as I'm concerned about the specifics of which budget is covering it (as long as it's not mine). Nobody lost face. But, I'm still left with a car that I don't dare drive in the desert.

Anyway, just thought I'd update my post.


Cheers...  

Thanks all, for the replies to this post, I thought I'd tell what the outcome has been.

After a long battle, meaning several trips to the GM Service Center, GM still refused to cover the repairs under warranty and still maintained that I couldn't see the report from the EDR. After 6 weeks, I still had nothing in writing from GM, meaning I had nothing to show to my lawyer, which would be the next step. I decided to "force" them to give me something in writing and  therefore I wrote them a mail, which I CC'ed to the Communications and Public Relations Manager General Motors Middle East. I still didn't hear anything from them. Then I decided to query as to why I had not received a reply to my mail. Two days later I received a mail from the area tech & warranty manager for Doha, asking me to bring my car in for repair.

I went to see the gentleman, expecting nothing. To my surprise he told me that GM had decided to cover all costs related to the repair (ie. reimbursing me for the new seatbelts and installing new side curtain air bags).

I was told that GM still maintained the view that the car had done as it was designed to do, but purely to keep me as a good customer, would they cover my expenses under a different budget (something along the lines of "customer satisfaction-budget).

Long story short, I take the blame and they pay the costs. The only problem with this solution is: What if this happens again??

All in all, I'm happy with the result, as I'm concerned about the specifics of which budget is covering it (as long as it's not mine). Nobody lost face. But, I'm still left with a car that I don't dare drive in the desert.

Anyway, just thought I'd update my post.


Cheers...  

Well, sounds like it worked out to reasonable satisfaction. I'm sure the issue is being looked at from an engineering standpoint to ensure this isn't an ongoing issue. A friend of mine recently took his car in for a hard-starting issue, and the dealership tried to nickel-and-dime him about various repairs that were needed. I suggested he contact someone in corporate customer service, and they ultimately covered all the costs. Especially now, GM can probably ill-afford to have unhappy customers bad-mouthing them. That's probably why they decided to cover you.