[AlanHo]

We got back from 2 weeks holiday in Portugal last week-end and are away again – this time down in Wiltshire to visit Stonehenge, Salisbury (+Cathedral), Longleat Safari Park/Stately Home and other places in the area.

The trip wasn’t pre-planned – but my eldest son is a British Airways captain and lives in Chippenham. He was off work for a few days and I hadn’t seen him for a while - so we popped down to visit him and extended our stay for a few days moving on to a small hotel in Chicklade.

Anyway – I digress. The reason for this post is a surprising motoring story.

One of our fellow hotel guests – much richer than us – owns a new model Jaguar. The car has a full set of bells and whistles, including an engine bonnet (hood) airbag to soften the blow if you happen to hit a pedestrian.

A few months ago he was following a car at about 30 mph through a small village and some litter bug threw a McDonalds burger carton out of the window which hit the Jaguar’s bonnet a glancing blow then bounced off the windscreen. There was an almighty bang and the bonnet airbag deployed, even though the cardboard tray was as light as a feather and the cars were travelling at low speed.

He had the car taken to a Jaguar dealer expecting it to be a warranty issue because the impact had been so minimal – but the claim was refused and it cost him £3100  to get it fixed. He has taken it up with Jaguar – who also rejected the claim - stating that the car had been checked and the impact sensor found to working as intended. He is pursuing the matter arguing that the system is too sensitive and could be tripped by a large insect if hit at high speed.

I would love to know the sequel – but we have each gone our different ways.

[Shambles]

buhahahaha

Maybe the burger carton wasn't empty - it might have had a piece of McD's lettuce in it.

[Surferdude]

That is dead set ridiculous.
Sounds like extremely poor design to me.
A bird, a small animal, an insect as you say, a scrap piece of rubbish flying around in the slipstreams. All regular motoring occurrences.
Methinks someone at Jaguar needs to have a rethink.

[Phil №❶]

If it was my car, I'd have left out the Mc Donalds part. "It just went off on its own!"

Sounds like he's got too much doh being on holidays 

[Dazzler]

Thanks for sharing Alan.. Dazzler scratches Top of the Range Jaguar off his next short list 

[AlanHo]

If it was my car, I'd have left out the Mc Donalds part. "It just went off on its own!"

With respect - that is hindsight.  It is a subject I have a masters degree in..........

The guy did say to me that he wished he hadn't mentioned the carton and did as you suggested.  However - in his wildest imagination he never expected Jaguar to not recognise the problem. He is now nervous about touching the bonnet with the engine running - though I suspect that the system is probably only activated above a certain speed for that very reason.

[2i30s]

That is dead set ridiculous.
Sounds like extremely poor design to me.
A bird, a small animal, an insect as you say, a scrap piece of rubbish flying around in the slipstreams. All regular motoring occurrences.
Methinks someone at Jaguar needs to have a rethink.

my thoughts also Trev.  imagine if you had a bug or bird hit the vehicle at high speeds and the air bag/curtain deployed,you wouldn't be able to see and probably crash.    or the other thing i thought of was if you had the engine running with the bonnet open [just say your re filling the washer bottle at the servo] and drop the bonnet to close it,the same thing could happen. 

[AlanHo]

I asked him how the device worked and it appears that the air bag is under the bonnet which is lifted a few inches near the windscreen when it goes off. If a pedestrian is hit - their head and upper torso impact the bonnet and the air bag softens the blow.  Hence driver vision is not impaired - (other than the body of the pedestrian draped across the bonnet).

I hit a pheasant last month - it's a good job the i30 doesn't have a bonnet airbag.

[Doggie 1]

Does that make you a pheasant plucker? 

It is very comforting to know that at least one car manufacturer is doing its best to minimize the impact (sorry ) that motor vehicles have on insects.
Even is only one small ladybird is now able to go home to its family after a nice Sunday outing, thanks to a Jaguar airbag deployment, then in the name of protecting our fragile environment it will all have been worthwhile. 

[FatBoy]

I had to re-read Alan's post. I thought he had hit a peasant!! I know how nasty that can be. Just the other day while driving in my Rolls Royce one remained in the way when I came bumbling through. I had to even apologise to his family for destroying their sole source of income.

Bloody peasants!!!

[beerman]

If it is not a warranty issue, then report it as a traffic accident and make a claim with insurance.

Let them fight it outl

[i30niko]

If it was my car, I'd have left out the Mc Donalds part. "It just went off on its own!"

Sounds like he's got too much doh being on holidays 

Exactly - on those situations you can never be honest with the dealers. They will use everything you say against you to refuse warranty claims.

One of my friends was playing with the rear-window switch (flicking it up and down) and then the window stopped moving. I went to the dealer and said 'it happened on its own' and replaced the switch!

Either way, as you said your friend is rich he could probably afford the money to repair it, but still Jaguars were never popular for their reliability!

[Doggie 1]

Either way, as you said your friend is rich he could probably afford the money to repair it, but still Jaguars were never popular for their reliability!

In the old days, but now that Tata (India) owns them I don't think that reliability is an issue.

[baroudeur]

Either way, as you said your friend is rich he could probably afford the money to repair it, but still Jaguars were never popular for their reliability!

In the old days, but now that Tata (India) owns them I don't think that reliability is an issue.

You never saw a City Rover then?

My son  had meetings with Mr Tata who is a very nice man but the Indian built  cars are scrap

[baroudeur]

I asked him how the device worked and it appears that the air bag is under the bonnet which is lifted a few inches near the windscreen when it goes off. If a pedestrian is hit - their head and upper torso impact the bonnet and the air bag softens the blow.  Hence driver vision is not impaired - (other than the body of the pedestrian draped across the bonnet).

If the air bag lifts the rear of the bonnet presumably this is  to provide a ramp to reduce the impact of  a body hitting the windscreen?

Unfortunately, it still requires the pedestrian to be struck by the front (bumper) of the car to cause the air bag to deploy. If so, where is the sensor fitted and how is it triggered?

[Doggie 1]

Either way, as you said your friend is rich he could probably afford the money to repair it, but still Jaguars were never popular for their reliability!

In the old days, but now that Tata (India) owns them I don't think that reliability is an issue.

You never saw a City Rover then?

My son  had meetings with Mr Tata who is a very nice man but the Indian built  cars are scrap

I disagree.
Tata have agreed to leave Jaguar as an independent company and it is not subject to the cost-cutting that has taken place elsewhere in the organisation.
Jaguar Cars today is in a much better place than it was five years ago as Tata are continuing to pour money into the R&D for new models and are preserving its autonomy.
As a result sales are on the increase worldwide as quality continues to improve.

[eye30]

We got back from 2 weeks holiday in Portugal last week-end and are away again – this time down in Wiltshire to visit Stonehenge, Salisbury (+Cathedral), Longleat Safari Park/Stately Home and other places in the area.

AStre you sure your surname isn't Whicker.................................with all the trips you have............

[eye30]

A few months ago he was following a car at about 30 mph through a small village and some litter bug threw a McDonalds burger carton out of the window which hit the Jaguar’s bonnet a glancing blow then bounced off the windscreen. There was an almighty bang and the bonnet airbag deployed, even though the cardboard tray was as light as a feather and the cars were travelling at low speed.

Did he stop to retrieve the carton? 

If so get it finger printed/DNA and bill the litter lout....

[baroudeur]

Plenty of comments on this subject via search

http://www.xfforum.co.uk/threads/4059-Pedestrian-Bonnet-deployed-cost/page2

[meehalych]

The trip wasn’t pre-planned – but my eldest son is a British Airways captain

hmm, has he ever flown to Pulkovo? we might have met one another once, probably

[Phil №❶]

My son  had meetings with Mr Tata who is a very nice man but the Indian built  cars are scrap

Clever baradeur