If My Airbags Deploy, Is My Car Considered A Total Loss?

It’s commonly believed that vehicles will be considered “totaled” if their airbags deploy during a collision.

Is it true? Well, not exactly. In most cases, if the only thing wrong with your vehicle is that the airbags were deployed and need to be replaced, that’s not going to be enough to total your car.

However, rarely do car crashes affect only the airbags. Typically, the combination of problems plus the cost of replacing the airbags will do it.

The reason people believe that airbag deployment alone will total a car is because they don’t know if a car can be repaired after the airbags can be deployed, how much it costs to replace an airbag, and if insurance companies even cover airbag replacement in their policies.

We’ll answer those questions within this article.

Can A Car Be Repaired If The Airbags Are Deployed?

A car can absolutely be repaired after the airbags deploy.

Whether or not a vehicle can be repaired is contingent upon the severity of the damage, the cost of repairs, and if the vehicle will even be safe to drive after the repairs.

Repairing a vehicle after the airbags have been deployed entails replacing all of the safety systems within the vehicle.

Reinstalling an airbag necessitates specific skills; the technician has to remove the whole airbag module before replacing it with a brand new one.

Depending on your car’s make and model, which airbags deployed, the circumstances, and other factors, replacing the airbags could require the removal or replacement of:

• The steering wheel
• The seats
• Sections of the dashboard
• Side panels and other interior parts of your vehicle

If the airbags are deployed and the car is still drivable, you should want to replace them immediately afterwards.

Is It Legal To Drive A Car Without Airbags?

There are no federal laws that say you can’t drive a car without functional airbags. However, some states do have laws in place specifying that your vehicle must have functioning airbags.

Additionally, it is much more dangerous to drive in a car without proper airbags. Driving without airbags increases the risk of fatality during a collision by 30%.

How Much Does It Cost To Replace An Airbag?

The cost of replacing an airbag can vary depending on the year, make and model of your car, how many airbags were deployed, the location of those airbags, and what parts are necessary to fully replace the units.

The cost of replacement ranges anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000 with the average typically falling between $3,000-$5,000.

This is where the cost of replacing airbags can outweigh the actual value of your vehicle and, therefore, be considered a “total loss” by your insurance provider.

Does Insurance Cover Airbag Replacement?

In most instances, your insurance provider should include airbag replacement within the coverage they offer.

That said, because airbag replacement is a particularly expensive repair, your provider may opt to just designate your vehicle as “totaled” instead, depending on the value of your vehicle.

If Your Insurance Totals It, We’ll Buy It!

If your airbags deployed in a collision and your insurance company decided to total your vehicle, don’t sweat it!

WeBuyTotaledCars is here to, quite literally, buy your totaled car! Our representatives can provide you with a quote for your vehicle within 90 seconds of you reaching out.

Like the quoted offer? Then we can connect you with one of our local partners.

Through them, you can schedule a pick-up of your vehicle within 24-48 hours…absolutely free of charge! They hitch up your totaled car and put that quoted amount right in your hands.

Contact WeBuyTotaledCars today and let us turn that “crash” into “cash!”