Hi all. It'* been a while since I've been on this site...Nice to be back!

I've gotta cray story for Ya! I was going down the street in the morning on the way to work and BLAH!!!! My driver'* side airbag went off in my face! After wiping the powder from my eyes and pulling my freshly coffee stained shirt from my body, I realized what had happened. Now,I drive a '96 SSEI and it is a beauty...clean as H*** and relatively low miles (130,000ish) I immediatley called GM'* Claim dept and was directed to Pontiac'* blah, blah, blah Dept. Dealt with a complete A$$**** and told him my story. He said he would set up a 'third party' inspection. Inspection dude calls me at 9:30pm on Sunday!to "get my car to the nearest dealer of my choice by Monday morning to have it checked out. I do, and I stay in the shop at Champion Chevy in Brighton, MI while they work on my car. As soon as Inspection Guy gets over to my car, he has the mechanic pop the trunk in looks inside. He pulls the carpet down from the left-hand side of the trunk to find a gaping rust hole. This hole measures about 6"8", right around the area of the strut tower. I think " he knew to look in that spot", right? Well water made it'* way down to the airbag module which is located under the passenger seat and corroding it. This causes the bags to deploy erroneously.
Gm claims responsibility for the mishap beacause "the owner'* manual doesnt tell about the effects of water invasion and offers me $1500 for the car, and they take it from me....Isnt that bullshit???? The car' worth quite a bit more than that. I saw just about my same car go on ebay for over $3000!

SHOULD I SUE?
Does your Bonne of aroung the same year have a rust hole in that area????
I went to the junkyard locally by me...Meichle'* Auto Salvage...and found 8 Bonnes with my body style. I found 3 that have rust goin on in the same spot!!! Gm knows about it!

Thanks for readin this guys & girls! Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!!
_________________
`96 SSEI just beggin me for some mods!
`86 Trans Am 5.0 TPI Flowmaster, Crane Cam, Accel HEI distributor,17`` Chromes, Kenwood throughout'
`90 T-bird SC Underdrive pulley kit, SC pulley, Accel wires and Distributor,Flowmasters

We had a 95 do this last year. That module is under the RF passenger seat.

If you took that deal, it'* too late. You should have held out for full market value and a big break on a new car.

You could get an attorney involved for sure, but I don't know if you could go after them for attorneys fees. I suppose you could. GM will of course give you a hard time because that is what they pay their lawyers to do.

Might not be a bad idea to call the family attorney if you have one and explain the situation to him/her. Just be prepared for a long battle...

Why is this a double posted thread?? Can the posts from the two be combined?

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...asc&highlight=

Since we're now in the right room, does anyone know what causes the unwarrented airbag deploy? And is the implication here that the rust hole and the airbag deploy are connected???

I'll admit that I'm curious... :?

Mike...it was water seeping in that caused the hole and the deployment.

Ooooohhhh...! Makes sense now.

Exactly...water got in the hole and ran down the floorboard to the airbag module, which is located under the passenger seat. It was completely corroded. I have talked to a lawyer and since noone was injured, there isnt much to go after other than the price of the vehicle. He also said it might be plausable to get a class-action suit going on if I believed that there were other incidents. And I do believe there have been!!! My other option is to file a small-claims suit which has a cap of $3000 in Michigan...Better than $1500 I guess, but I believe there'* a bigger problem!

You are only the 2nd out of 5000 cars we have on this forum that I've heard of. And the other leak was a door seal.

The ultimate problem is the location of the module being so low on the floor. Any water would naturally collect there.

Class-action suits generally pay very low. Rescind the deal. That'* my advice. Hold out for a better offer with or without an attorney.

can u get a pic of the 'gaping hole' that is in the trunk?

and yes it is rare for the bags to just go off.....did the passenger bag fire as well??? you only mentioned the drivers