# Accident Info from On Star and Questions



## mc2crazy (Oct 25, 2013)

Thanks, that should help some. I would guess the GM dealer can read the EDR?

We spoke with On Star people for quite a while. They told us the accident was "Delta Force", but no one knows what it is other than probable injury or death.

My wife got bruised from the seat belt after getting slammed into the seat and rebounding forward. It was a HARD impact. I'm still dealing with multiple injuries, some of which may be permanent.

Delta Force????


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## mc2crazy (Oct 25, 2013)

Does anyone know what "delta" force is as measured in an accident?

Why would the air bags be showing a condition "red" when none were deployed?


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## OnStar Advisor (Oct 23, 2012)

Hi mc2crazy,

Delta Force (otherwise known as Delta Velocity, or Delta-V) is the CHANGE in velocity during impact, which is used as an indicator the force of the impact. If, for example, you were traveling 55 MPH, and the collision caused your vehicle to suddenly decelerate to 20 MPH, your "Delta" would be -35 MPH. If a collision caused you to come to a complete stop, your delta would be -55 MPH.

-Jaymz, OnStar Advisor
Social Media Team


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Here its used on context: from http://dritoday.org/feature.aspx?id=350

Question is, has this been recorded in your EDR and if so, may show a speed of 55 mph with some sort of drastic increase due to the impact. And whether the evidence of the EDR is relatvant to this accident is questionable, you already have proof of the damage done to your vehicle.

My understanding of the Cruze airbags only go off with a frontal impact, will leave this to the experts and Chevy to determine this. If the airbag light is on, just indicates damage to the airbag system or a malfunction. This can happen with your vehicle parked safely in your garage. Like a corroded terminal. But more than likely, that huge impact, what else electrically is broken?

With injuries, can be practically guaranteed the defending insurance company will be searching long and hard for any preconditions. In my case, going back to the day I was born.

"Importantly, analyze what sort of information may be downloaded from that particular car, and whether or not it could be useful for your defense. What types of information can be extracted from an EDR?Again, it depends on the car, but in general, the following data may be accessible:


Air bag deployment; 
Whether the driver was wearing a seat belt; 
Whether brakes were applied; 
Vehicle speed five seconds and one second before impact; 
Throttle position; 
*Severity of the crash, known as the delta force or the change of speed*; 
Duration of the crash; 
Whether any warning lamps or fault codes were on. "


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

NickD said:


> Here its used on context: from http://dritoday.org/feature.aspx?id=350
> 
> Question is, has this been recorded in your EDR and if so, may show a speed of 55 mph with some sort of drastic increase due to the impact. And whether the evidence of the EDR is relatvant to this accident is questionable, you already have proof of the damage done to your vehicle.
> 
> ...


From watching multiple crash vids and other random sources full frontal, both frontal offset side and possibly a roll over situation sets them off. Then there is that 1 random drift situation. 

Spontaneous Airbag Deployment while Drifting - YouTube


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Merc6 said:


> From watching multiple crash vids and other random sources full frontal, both frontal offset side and possibly a roll over situation sets them off. Then there is that 1 random drift situation.
> 
> Spontaneous Airbag Deployment while Drifting - YouTube


I believed mc2cracy when he stated with that huge rear end impact, his airbags did not go off. Also stated his airbag trouble lamp is on, so apparently that rear end collision caused damage to its circuitry.

A good question with the Cruze is, what happens when your airbag light comes on after you have 36,001 miles on your Cruze with no accident involved? Is this covered under warranty for an extended period or do you have to pay a huge fortune to have it repaired?

Airbags have been around for about 25 years now, and know of people whose airbag warning lamps came on, and the repair cost was a lot more than what their vehicle is worth. The modules I have seen that were triggered in even a small fender bender accident were totally destroyed. Microcontroller and every circuit inside of that box was toasted after being triggered.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

NickD said:


> I believed mc2cracy when he stated with that huge rear end impact, his airbags did not go off. Also stated his airbag trouble lamp is on, so apparently that rear end collision caused damage to its circuitry.
> 
> A good question with the Cruze is, what happens when your airbag light comes on after you have 36,001 miles on your Cruze with no accident involved? Is this covered under warranty for an extended period or do you have to pay a huge fortune to have it repaired?
> 
> Airbags have been around for about 25 years now, and know of people whose airbag warning lamps came on, and the repair cost was a lot more than what their vehicle is worth. The modules I have seen that were triggered in even a small fender bender accident were totally destroyed. Microcontroller and every circuit inside of that box was toasted after being triggered.


It could be something electrical or fluke. When he was rearended did the car think it was gonna tip over on it's right side? GM says the Camaro in the video drifting thought that when it went from one direction to the next that it sent enough G or Delta to think it was going to roll over.


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## mikoQ (May 22, 2014)

Driver should be aware of the presence of an EDR and drive appropriately. EDR is installed in vehicles to prevent possible accident. This device was initially used by the NHTSA in 1991 to determine the information surrounding a vehicle crash. It captures data regarding your driving habits within its crash recorder, and even save your life by notifying authorities in the event of a crash, through a service like OnStar. But, there is a concern over invasion of privacy. Here is the article: Event data recorders: Saving lives and invading privacy.


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

**** of a NECRO BUMP for a first post.


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## Jeff D (Mar 26, 2013)

When we got rearended in our Cruze, no airbag deployed but seatbelt retractors did. That's what likely set off the airbag light. Pretty big bruise on our hips from the retractors. Setting still 3rd veh in chain rearend accident.


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