I need some advice from you guys. I'm not sure exactly what to do after I had a very unique situation occur tonight. I left my residence with a friend to head into Worcester (city in MA) and meet up with friends. I live way out in the boonies, so I have to take some longer back roads to get to civilization. I was driving down a road that I drive everyday on the way to work, but I hit a new pothole that was pretty big. It hit on the Passenger front tire, and there was no way to avoid it due to a car coming the other way at that exact instant.
Well I heard a bang and tried to figure out what happened, but I believe I was in a bit of shock. The car slowly came to a stop, and I finally came to my senses as it stopped and realised the Hazard lights were going off and the engine was OFF. I felt something wack my arm when I hit the pothole and I look to my left and the Driver door and curtain airbags went off. Now mind you I am stopped in the middle of the road, but it wasn't busy, so we were the only ones there. I get out of the car, take a walk around and finally inspect my passenger rim to see a big dent in it from the pothole. That is the ONLY damage to the car.
I ended up getting ahold of the police and filed a report when the officer arrived. The car was still drivable, and the tire had not lost the seal. So I drove the car home, called my insurance company and filed a "claim".
After closer inspection of the car, I see the curtain airbag ruined all the trim on that side of the car, and the door panel needs to be replaced since the airbag deployed blowing apart the door panel. My arm has a slight burn on it, and the rim is destroyed.
What do I do? Do I file a claim, get the car fixed and pay the deductable hoping my insurance company can later get me the money from the town to pay for the damages? Do I go after BMW for an airbag going off when it shouldn't have which is a MAJOR safety issue. I am under an assumption that the side airbags don't even go off when there is a minor side impact just due to the danger of additional injury not to mention when hitting a pothole..
Is this covered under warrenty (airbags, not rim). What if my suspension is damaged? Has anyone run into a situation like this before? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will be posting some pics within the next couple days..
Well I heard a bang and tried to figure out what happened, but I believe I was in a bit of shock. The car slowly came to a stop, and I finally came to my senses as it stopped and realised the Hazard lights were going off and the engine was OFF. I felt something wack my arm when I hit the pothole and I look to my left and the Driver door and curtain airbags went off. Now mind you I am stopped in the middle of the road, but it wasn't busy, so we were the only ones there. I get out of the car, take a walk around and finally inspect my passenger rim to see a big dent in it from the pothole. That is the ONLY damage to the car.
I ended up getting ahold of the police and filed a report when the officer arrived. The car was still drivable, and the tire had not lost the seal. So I drove the car home, called my insurance company and filed a "claim".
After closer inspection of the car, I see the curtain airbag ruined all the trim on that side of the car, and the door panel needs to be replaced since the airbag deployed blowing apart the door panel. My arm has a slight burn on it, and the rim is destroyed.
What do I do? Do I file a claim, get the car fixed and pay the deductable hoping my insurance company can later get me the money from the town to pay for the damages? Do I go after BMW for an airbag going off when it shouldn't have which is a MAJOR safety issue. I am under an assumption that the side airbags don't even go off when there is a minor side impact just due to the danger of additional injury not to mention when hitting a pothole..
Is this covered under warrenty (airbags, not rim). What if my suspension is damaged? Has anyone run into a situation like this before? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will be posting some pics within the next couple days..