Front Air Bag problems of the 2004 Dodge Stratus

2004 Dodge Stratus. Ltr forwarded from fmcsa requesting investigation of consumer complaint re non-deployment of the airbags in her Chrysler vehicle. The consumer hit a utility pole. The consumer suffered injuries to her face. The manufacturer denied the consumers claim for any assistance. The manufacturers inspection revealed that the threshold for air bag deployment was not met. The impact was absorbed by the vehicle's crush points. Also, during the electronic testing, no fault codes appeared that would have indicated any malfunction at the time of the incident.

Consumer's vehicle was involved in head on collision, whereby the seat belt did not secure the consumer, causing him to strike his head on the steering wheel, then, the air bags deployed only because his head hit the steering. Consumer broke his nose, and had other multiple injuries. The vehicle was totaled.