The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Air-Bag Sensors

Rich Spears (ffeinc@ij.net)
Wed, 28 Apr 1999 17:05:21 -0400 (EDT)

I am to do an investigation on a 1999 Chev 1500 pickup (worth $40,000) that hit a concrete road barrier with significant damage to the underbody and frame. The air-bag did not deploy even though the driver said she was traveling at 40 mph. THe steering column collapsed when the driver hit it. The vehicle is at a body shop 200 miles away with $7000 damage and the owner wants it repaired immediately after my inspection. My plans are to 1. inspect the vehicle in hopes of performing an accident reconsturction, 2. remove the SDM for safe keeping in hopes of getting GM to down load the data and 3. possibly remove the ABS modual - again for safe keeping. Any other suggestions?

I am told that the only person who can fully download the data is GM. But is there a way to contact them to perform this duty. I have called many dealers and the GM customer relation line with no luck.

Does the ABS modual need to be removed. I understand that information on the velocities at the time the brakes were applied can be downloaded. Is this correct?

If these moduals stay in the vehicle, will the data be overwritten when the vehicle is restored? I would prefer not to remove them.

Is there a difference between air-bag deployment delta-V's for pick-ups as opposed to passenger cars?
thank you
Rich Spears
ffeinc@ij.net

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