Well our beauty is no more. I struck a deer full on tonight and here is my assessment of how the car performed. First the deer a large 3pt buck was killed instantly and as humanely as possible. The airbag was not as loud as I expected. Front and both side airbags deployed flawlessly. The car said something about an emergency occurring and turned on the hazards but did not deactivate the drive system. The windows automatically rolled down 3 or 4 inches to clear the smoke. The doors, both front doors locked! The side airbags were fully inflated and I had to crawl under it. The doors were still all locked and wouldn't unlock. (This is possibly due to disruption of the electrical system). The front end crushed in an obviously progressive and controlled manner. All in all I'm impressed with the physical way the car handled the impact but I find it more than a little disconcerting that the car wouldn't let me out.
Happy to hear you survived OK, how on Earth did you exit the vehicle? I agree the doors locking appears baffling
It was quite difficult as I am 6'6", 62 years old and had one of our larger dogs in the car.(she was scared nigh on hysterical but fortunately unhurt. I almost popped the side bag with my knife but was able to crawl out under it with the dog.
Todd: I'm still MOST interested in how you got out of the vehicle? I posed this question in another thread in July ... but never received a definitive answer:
"it" assuming being the airbag. I guess the question is if the door unlock solenoids stopped unlatching of the lock assembly, there was an easy way to open the door itself physically to enable egress, which is the most important function in case of an emergency such as this one.
Todd: Thanks for the reply; glad that you are safe. A deer-strike while at-speed -- and which deploys the airbags -- is certainly a life-threatening event. However, my question about your egress was about the DOOR(s) ... and prompted by this passage in the OP: How did you get the door(s) opened to egress the vehicle ???
Now I'm curious. The doors locked on impact, would not unlock after. I get you had to duck under the airbag but how did you get the doors unlocked? Also I thought the door handle was two staged, first engages the solenoid and a harder pull is a physical link? Thanks Brian
To be clear, my like wasn't for you hitting the deer, it was a thank-you for the information! I'm glad that you are OK and that the car did well to protect you.
Sorry I disappeared on all your questions, I've kind of backed off on things while I waited three weeks for aaa to decide what they are gonna do with her and didn't see the followups. Well AAA is going to repair her, I an so happy for this. In the cold light of day, well many of them actually and having seen the damage in the tow yard, what I think must have happened was that both front quarter panels were pushed back far enough to impinge upon the doors and bind them. I also talked with the dealer and vw prides themselves on, I believe they said being the first manufacturer that has vehicles that unlock automatically in an emergency. I really don't believe that my situation would be such an anomaly. In the heat of the moment I suspect that I mistook the door binding as door locking. I apologize for any confusion and for not tending to my thread. T3
