Shader7/Calgary_G,

I know I've chimed in on this one before, but thought I'd drop another $.02.

IMO, the airbags should have deployed... at least on the driver's side. I'm not surprised that they did not on the passenger side because, if I remember correctly, Infiniti has a passenger sensor that would have detected that there was no passenger.

However, the driver's side should have deployed. Modern airbags are two-stage and vary their deployment speed depending on the speed of the impact. Thus, if the difference in speed between the two vehicles was less than 30mph (I don't know what the real cut off is), then it should have deployed with less force than if the impact were >30mph. But it should have deployed... unless the speed difference was less than 10-15mph or whatever the low speed impact limit is set to. Based on the damage (both to the car and the occupant), I would suspect that the speed difference was greater than that.

Also, what if the occupant were not wearing their seatbelt or had it improperly fastened? Again, the airbag should deploy regardless of the seatbelt's status.

One thing that does disturb me is the assumption (mine included) that airbags will work everytime, the way they were designed, and when needed. Based on Shader7's comments about his experience in airbag deployment, I'm beginning to wonder if they are as reliable as generally thought.

I mean, take a look at what happened to Gus Grissom and his lost (and now recovered) space capsule Liberty 7. It was assumed that Gus messed up because the military had never seen even one incidence of impact related deployment. However, after recovering the capsule, the general concensus was that Gus was apparently innocent, just as he had claimed. However, he was considered by many to be a "screw up" because of that.

My point is that maybe they are not working as well or as reliably as we have thought... in the real world, where it counts. I believe that only a couple companies supply ALL of the airbag systems in use in the world today. Therefore, if there were a problem it may be more widespread than just G35's or Infiniti's.

Calgary_G, I'm sorry to hear about the severity of your injuries. Anything to do with injured kidneys is cause for alarm. I don't imagine that the whiplash is much better.

I hope that, at the least, you report your concerns to the Canadian equivalent of the U.S.'s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so they can have a record of the incident.

Get well soon!

Scott