If The Airbags Deploy, Is My Car Still Totaled? Get The Facts

You ever hear that if you blow your airbags in an accident, they total your car? Fortunately, that is a bit of an exaggeration. While yes, generally an accident serious enough to set them off means genuine damage, it won’t always total out your car. Let’s go into why airbags might actually be the cause of a totally wrecked car and what the repair process looks like from there.

How Do Airbags Work?

Airbag deployment is a quick trick. They are designed to inflate in a few milliseconds. When your car goes into a moderate to severe crash, a signal is then sent to the airbag to inflate it. Those life-savers made of nylon bags filled with gas-generating chemicals are then placed inside the steering wheel or dashboard.

During deployment, gasses within the bag expand it. The inflated airbag will then cushion the occupants, thus dampening the injury that may result from impact and therefore protecting the occupants from incurring severe injuries.

Do I Need to Replace My Airbags After an Accident?

If you’ve recently been in an accident, most likely, your airbag sensors were in fact tripped, and most likely your airbags are deployed. Depending on the model of your car, you might literally just need to reset the airbags and the sensor, and for other models, you may need a change completely. The sooner the airbags in your car are replaced, the better. Living without proper airbags could lead to serious damage or worse in your next accident.

How To Reset or Repair Airbags?

Now, here is the overall view of how one could reset their airbags:

Resetting the Airbag Warning Light

The sensors for the airbag can go off even if the airbags do not deploy. Most cars have a malfunction light that shows there’s something wrong with the airbags. If they go off, then one has to reset that sensor so as it inflates correctly in another accident.

How to Reset Your Airbags?

All airbags do not require replacement. In some models, if they are intact after deployment, they can be reset. This involves putting the airbag back into the module and turning off its respective light. But in many new cars, it might need to be replaced, since certain airbags cannot be reset.

Should your airbags be damaged or cannot be reset, you will simply replace them. Simply remove the whole airbag module and place a new one in position. Should the airbag module be in a steering wheel, the chances that the whole wheel and steering column will also need to be replaced are high. After fitting, reset the airbag sensor.

Can You Repair or Replace Airbags After Deployment?

Some of them can be replaced after deployment; however, an already deployed airbag needs to be replaced since it is no longer safe. To replace an airbag, first the old one has to be removed and then a new one installed. This is done pretty quickly and easily, particularly if little damage was caused at deployment time. Always have a mechanic check it out.

How Airbag Deployment Affects Accident Claims?

In a number of cases, when airbags deploy, the level of the costs for repairing or replacing it becomes high, which in turn would have an effect on the overall cost involved in an accident claim. Deployment, on the other hand, doesn’t need to affect fault determination because airbags get triggered in cases of rapid deceleration only.

How is a car declared totaled if airbags are deployed?

In some cases, the deployment of airbags can render a car irreparable because it causes damages beyond repair. As such, it can be treated as a total loss, whereby one would spend more than the actual market price to fix the car. The deployment can cause a lot of damage either to the airbag or to other parts of the vehicle.

What Does it Mean if a Car is Totaled?

Most people believe that a car must be totally lost if the repair cost becomes larger than the vehicle’s value. In most cases, this is accurate. Usually, a car is considered totaled when the cost of repair exceeds 70% of the car value. For example, if your car is worth $5,000, it’s considered totaled if the repair amount goes up to $3,500 or more.

There are many ways to evaluate whether your vehicle is a repair or destruction and the insurance and procedures of the adjusters are two of the most common. Costs of repair are composed of: part, material, paint, labor, and addition of airbag replacement.

While the cost of an airbag replacement itself on auto insurance may not totally cost your vehicle, specifically on older vehicles, this replacement may considerably boost the total cost of repair.

Insurance generally covers the airbag replacement if –

1. Your car isn’t totaled
2. There is no inflation because of the presence of a child
   • You did not cause the accident
   • You have collision insurance, which pays to fix your car in the event of a collision, whether or not you are at fault.

Airbags are the lifesaver in any vehicle. When an accident occurs, these bags inflate and thereby give excellent protection to you and your passengers. In some cases, the car is totaled if the airbag deploys. Or, in other words, the inflating of air does not necessarily mean that your car has been totaled.

Airbag Technology in 2025

Recent advances in airbag technology have been remarkable. Automakers are adopting a more complex approach to occupant safety as of 2025. So, creating multistage deployment systems, adaptive airbags, and even exterior airbag modules meant to lower collision damage from beyond the vehicle.

Smart Airbag Systems

Modern cars like the Hyundai Kona Electric and 2025 BMW iX employ intelligent airbag systems that can evaluate the occupant’s size, seating position, and belt status in addition to the degree of the impact. This data helps the airbag system to lower injury by lowering the deployment force or even stopping the deployment altogether.

This means fewer incorrect deployments and more accurate control, reducing the chances of a car being damaged, more about the total damage and less about the airbag itself.

Exterior Airbags

Exterior airbags affixed to bumpers or side panels are found on certain premium and luxury EVs available in 2025. These activate milliseconds before impact, either to absorb energy to safeguard pedestrians or to lessen the crumple damage to the car. This helps to lower the chance of total loss and can help to lessen the seriousness of insurance claims in addition to protecting inhabitants and others.

Less Expensive, Modular Repairs

Modular airbag systems are now created by automobile companies such that replacing just one component of the system—such as the inflator or module—can resolve the problem without the need for a complete steering wheel or dashboard replacement. For instance, Toyota and Ford have newer models that allow parts-based replacements, therefore lowering expenses considerably.

This change has made post-deployment repairs more economical, particularly for vehicles in the $15,000 to $30,000 range, therefore lowering the possibility of total loss announcements over airbag costs alone.

Data from Airbags and Insurance Decisions

Insurers sometimes utilize airbag deployment data in 2025 to help their judgments. A timestamped log of the collision severity from the Event Data Recorder (EDR) aids in evaluating the vehicle’s repairability.

Interestingly, insurers may be more willing to authorize repairs rather than declare the vehicle a total loss—especially if the frame, engine, and transmission are undamaged—in lesser severity collisions where airbags activate owing to sensor sensitivity.

Conclusion

Understanding how airbags work, how they can be repaired, and how their deployment will factor into your accident claim can, in fact, help to take you through the aftermath of a crash much more effectively. Keep your airbags in working order, and after an accident, have them attended to so that on the road, you’re assured of safety. If at any point in time you are unsure, consult a professional mechanic who can remit your car to its prowling form. Stay safe out there!

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