Hello to everyone. I am new to this forum and am looking for some technical help with a problem I am having with my 99 GT. My son decided one day to take the car without my permission. He skidded on some black ice and hit a pole. The air bags deployed but the car kept running and he was able to drive it home. Once he shut it off I could not start it again. I have full power to lights, horn, radio, etc. I checked the fuel reset in the trunk but it never popped. The car does not crank, period! Could it have something to do with the air bags deploying? Is there an air bag reset? I have since pulled the deflated bags out of the car. I am still wondering why the air bags deployed in the first place. He was going slow, making a left turn, when he hit the ice. The impact was at the point where the fender meets the door, on the driver's side. In fact the door is not even damaged. I pulled the fender off and it looks like all I have to do is replace it. No damage to hood or door, only the fender. Now if I could only get the car started...!!!

 

i have no clue, but i do know if i was your kid i wouldnt tell the truthful story i think thats a cover up, it takes quite a bit of force to cause the airbags to come out, i had a buddy hit ice going 15-20 and slammed into a snow bank hard and bags didnt come out

 

have you seen the picture...??? the hit wasn't that bad...

 

All the hit has to do is jar the front bumper enough to make the bags go off.


Try reseting the fuel pump by popping open your trunk and hitting the fuel pump switch that should be found on the left side of your trunk.

I noticed you said the car won't crank at all - that would involve your starter & ignition.

 

front bumper was untouched...tried the fuel pump switch...never popped up

 

Do you mean it won't even turn over? I'd check the wiring to your starter, and the starter itself. I can't believe from the picture there isn't at least some damage to the inner fender. If so isn't there some relays and such right there? I can't get to my car to look right now, but seems like there is at least an anti-lock braking (red box) there.

If it ran home and won't turn over now sounds like something has been severed leading to the starter circuit. Wonder if you could do like the old days and basically short across the starting solenoid?

 

I couldn't believe it either until I took the fender off. Everything looks clean. I even took the splash guard off to make sure. Yes, it will not even turn over. Full power to lights, horn, etc.

I will take another look tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the reply!

 

The only way to make the airbags go off is to actually break the sensor off the bracket it's mounted on. Jarring the bumper or hitting the fender, or even being rear ended (Very common misconseption) won't set the bags off.

If the sensor under the hood isn't broken, and they went off, there is something seriously wrong. Airbags are on their own relay, even if there was a short in the car somewhere, it would have to be between the airbag and the sensor to set them off, and therefore have nothing to do with the car not starting. There maybe a saftey in there somewhere that won't allow fuel through after the airbags have gone off, but it would still crank I would imagine. I have heard of people changing their steering wheels, and the passenger side blows the next time they start their car. Did you change anything on the car that would interrupt the function of the SRS system?

 

FYI...Looking at the picture, thats a Donut gone bad if I've ever seen one. Might want to shake the kid down for what really happened.

 

he was making a left turn and hit some ice...car did a 180 and he hit the pole...

#1 he should not have taken the car...
#2 especially in the winter...
#3 and most importantly with bald tires!!

Car was being stored for the winter!

Haven't done any mods to the car since I got it...do you know where the sensor would be so I can check to see if it's broken?

Thanks!