Hello

 

My Fabia uneventually "crashed" into a wall during park driving at ~5 km/h and the srs system was activated with driver+side airbag deployed and front seat-belts pretensionners activated.

 

Is there a possibility in Fabia mk2 to retrieve data from the airbag ECU for the velocity/rpm/brake or gas status for thr 5 seconds before srs activation like in newer cars ?

 

Attached picture of the "impact" and of an example of Bosch CDR crash data retrieval tool

 

My car Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSI Manual, 86hp, 2011

 

Rafifi.

 

 

Why do you want the data, do you consider that the airbags should not have deployed for such a minor impact?

 

Whilst I share your view the hidden damage will be more severe than what you think, I recently rebuilt my Yeti after an impact far less than yours which had deployed the airbags, my windscreen was not cracked, the bumper has a tiny scuff which remains, the plastic radiator grille had some broken slats and the number plate cracked, all but the plastic grille were re-used and nobody would even notice.

 

During the strip down the severity of the impact became apparent, the metal bumper inner beam had contacted the aircon condensor and perforated it, the beam was deformed with a split in one return flange, it straightened quite well on my 12 ton press but as the whole front end is aligned from it including all the panel gaps it wasn't good enough, it is in fact the primary sacrificial crumple zone and had crumpled, the main chassis rail hadn't.

 

from looking at the photos its possible that you main chassis rail crumple zone has deformed, nothing in the scheme of things and I have repaired far worse in the past but thats more than enough impact to trigger the airbag g sensor and deploy the airbags, the threshold is low on the basis that the driver or passenger may not be wearing seat belts.

 

There are companies that will remove the crash data and reset the control module for £30 with a 24 hour turnaround, if the data can be retrieved then I'm sure they could furnish you with it.

Hi J.R.

 

The speed was very low in my view for airbag opening and I am very interessed to know what was the actual speed during deployment of the srs system.

 

I don't want to erase and restore the ECU but to extract the crash data that may be stored inside (or not...) So the companies you talk about don't help me so...

 

Is there any info stored in the airbag ECU of fabia mk2 or is this car built without this newer technology ?

 

 

I think @J.R. may have intended the meaning  "extract" relating to the crash data when he used the word "remove"?

 

The last part of his final sentence seems to confirm this: "if the data can be retrieved then I'm sure they could furnish you with it. " 

 

("Furnish you with it" means "give it to you").  Assuming English may not be your first language @Rafifi?

 

Edited 13 January, 20206 yr by Wino

Doesn't sound like its of help to the OP as it sounds like they wont be repairing their car, I'm guessing someone else was driving and said they were only at crawling speed.

 

For anyone else interested what the companies do is to erase the crash data stored on the Eprom in the unit and "reset" it so it can be used again, the alternative is a new one from VAG and I think special coding for the ECU to recognise it which might be beyond VCDS, in any case they are very expensive.

 

I speculated that if they can erase the data they could copy it and supply it to the customer.

 

Expensive new vehicles are being written off for very minor cosmetic panel damage because the impact has caused airbag deployment, the cost of new airbags, seat belt mechanisms, a new dashboard (because it ruptures on deployment) the airbag controller all at manufacturers list price plus the labour charges and that even for a scratched bumper like mine the vehicle will be declared Category C structural damage (reducing its repaired value massively) and hence the threshold where it becomes a write off.

 

With the specialists in the field who refurbish dashboards and supply complete kits to repair vehicles they can be repaired very cheaply, my Yeti cost £800 including an aircon condensor, grille and inner bumper crash bar in addition to the airbags, belts, dashboard & module reset.

To the OP.

 

There is crash data stored, how in depth it is I do not know, I would assume speed and decelleration data from the relevant sensors but its only speculation.

Hi J.R.

 

Indeed the car was declared write off and going to parts dissassembly depot.

 

I received now an answer from Bosch inc. That her CDR tool ( https://www.boschdiagnostics.com/cdr/ ) :

 

 

Hello,

 

I do not show we have any coverage for a Skoda Fabia. So it would not be supported on our CDR tool.

 

Best regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen

 

Drew Mehling

AA-AS/TSS2.1-NA

Aftermarket Technical Support Specialist

[email protected]

 

655 Eisenhower Drive

Owatonna, MN 55060

USA

www.bosch.com

 

Is there another option for crash data retriveal from the ECU box ?

 

n.b.  to Wino, I am a french speaking natively 😉

Under 5kph? Really? I find that hard to comprehend, looking at the scuffing/damage to the car. Thats around 3MPH so unless you kept on driving, forcing the car into the wall and sending the car sideways on a deflected trajectory, that's an awful lot of damage! I would take a punt the glass was already smashed as its difficult to see what could have struck there.

Doesn't VCDS proper (as opposed to VCDS-Lite which is all I have experience of) give you snapshot data relating to the fault code/light and the driving situation when the 'problem' happened?

 

2 hours ago, mrgf said:

Under 5kph? Really? I find that hard to comprehend, looking at the scuffing/damage to the car. Thats around 3MPH so unless you kept on driving, forcing the car into the wall and sending the car sideways on a deflected trajectory, that's an awful lot of damage! I would take a punt the glass was already smashed as its difficult to see what could have struck there.

With the sudden "explosion" of the airbag and the smoke it take some time to understand and brakes the car, so the scratching on the bumper...

 

And 2nd, the glass was broken by the side front airbag when deploying. Was normal, no fissure before the srs activation !

 

Yours, Rafifi

I guess I was lucky not to have added a windscreen to the bill then, there were smeared charge deposits on it bearing witness to the airbag having pushed against it. The side, steering wheel and knee airbags all deployed but not the ones in the A & B pillars or seats.

19 hours ago, Rafifi said:

WOW! That was one unlucky collision, then!  I dint ever recall a windscreen being shattered/cracked by an airbag before. Surely that sort of deployment in its-self would be enough to render the use of airbags as dangerous!  I hope the insurance people are co-operative.