Air Bag Not Deploy problems of the 2003 Kia Motor Sorento

My daughter was driving a 2003 kia sorrento and fell a sleep at the wheel after college exams. She drove into the rear of a tractor trailer tanker at approximately 40 mph. None of the air bags deployed as a result of the accident. She had a concussion and a cracked sternum. State farm insurance declared the car a total loss due to a bent frame, engine mount failure and a totaled front end. After contacting kia, their response to the accident was that the angle the car hit the trailer, was such that none of the sensors was compromised , there for the air bags did not deploy. Basically is was not their problem with their equipment of the car.

Reference NHTSA item number 10015248 -- TSB# 029 2003 kia Sorento -- air bags purchased car in 8/2003 and has had problems with air bag coming on and off over the past 5 years. Now the car has been in an accident and is three months out of warranty, the dealership is not inclined to cover the expense to replace the "adu" but rather wishes to charge me more than $500. My daughter was in a scary accident and airbags did not deploy.

In September, 2006, at approximately 55200 miles, the airbag failure light came on. Diagnosis by the dealer on 5 sept 2006 (invoice 107484) revealed "ordered drivers air bag, fault b1346, 1st stage resistance to [sic] high. " on 25 sept 2006, after first ordering the wrong part(invoice 107945), the dealer replaced the driver-side air bag (invoice 108174). On 31 July 2007, at approximately 59200 miles, the air bag warning light came on. The car was brought to the dealer on 1 August, and on 2 August the dealer replaced the air bag. The dealer invoice indicates "56910r00 replaced drivers side air bag. Resistance to [sic] high. " (invoice 119075). On the morning of 3 August 2007, at approximately 59220 miles, the airbag warning light came on. This car has never been involved in a collision. The air bags have never been deployed. The car has less than 60,000 miles on it and is only 4-1/2 years only. Despite the driver-side airbag being replaced twice, the car is indicating for the third time that the driver-side airbag has failed.

On Saturday, April 3, 2004, my 2003 kia sorrento was parked in the middle of my driveway while I moved the lawn. After returning my lawn mower to the garage, I got into the sorrento to move it back into the garage. After I started the vehicle and put it into drive, it accelerated rapidly, pulled me through the garage and through the back wall, which is solid brick. I went through my front yard, and the only reason I stopped was because the vehicle went over some boulders and down an incline, causing the back wheels to come off the ground. I also hit a tree in my front yard. The air bags did not deploy.

The air bag did not deploy when the vehicle was involved in a front-end accident. As a result of the accident and the air bag not deploying, the consumer suffered neck and back injuries.