In the past 6 months or so, I know of three people around here who had their airbags go off when hitting deer - 1 in a car, 1 in a compact truck, and 1 in a SUV. 2 of these people were in put in the hospital because of airbag-related injuries (broken wrist, broken arm, internal bleeding), when they would have easily walked away otherwise without even a scratch. It surprised me that the airbags went off in what I consider minor accidents - especially when both the truck and SUV were driveable afterwards & only suffered minor front-end damage.

Since I drive a lot at night and hit deer relatively often (I've hit 7 so far), I've been thinking about the airbag in my '01 F150 and whether or not it might go off if I hit a 200+ lb. deer at 60 or 70 mph. Has anyone here hit a decent-sized deer with a late-model Ford pickup? I'm not a big fan of airbags, and have seriously considered disconnecting mine - and the chance of it going off hitting a deer would give me one more reason.

LK

 

I hit a rather large deer (200+) with my former 2wd '97 F150 @ 80MPH. It hit in the middle of the grill... the deer and the front of my truck exploded, but the air bag didn't go off.


OhioRiverFordMan
'99 F150 4x4

 

I recently ran into a Toyota 4 runner and did about $5000 worth of cosmetic damage to my 99. The airbag did not go off. I'm glad it didn't go off. The seat belt did plenty as I walked away with no pain. I think on these trucks you have to hit something big and hard.

 

I recently went into a ditch headon in Oklahoma, the truck wasn't hurt all that bad (I drove it home about 300 miles after it was pulled out of the ditch). Both airbags came out. I was going about 30 over a small hill on a road I didnt know and the road dead ended. I wasn't hurt at all, I just had to drive back with that burnt material smell in the truck. The total repairs are going to be right at $5,000 (about $2,000 for the airbags).

 

I just hit a 160lbs deer going about 50mph and both of my airbags went off causing some hot powder to burn my skin but I wouldn't disconnect my airbags becouse of that it did a lot of damage to my truck F150 crew cab 01'

 

I hit a deer last week at 70 mph. Don't know how much the deer weighed but she was as tall as the brush guard. @3500 damage and the airbags did not go off. The brush guard seemed to deflect a lot of the impact.

 

All I can say to that man, is ouch.