UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Was coing back from work when I went arround a corner and lost control of the car. I was only doing 30mph but the car slid out and hit the road barrier on the other side, then it bounced back and it went through a fence. Im not a happy person at the moment coz the car was ment to go back to the dealer as a part-ex for a new model 9n3. For some reason the side air bag went, but there was no damage to the the drivers side, only the rear wheel. It hit a fence straight on but the steering wheel airbag didnt go???? Has anyone had this problem before of having the side air bags go?????? The car's outside damage can easyly be repaired, but coz of the price of a new air bag in the seat, and the fact the new 9n3 has brought the price down on the 9n, i think its wrote off as scrap!!! Oh and the side airbag is CRAP, its only the size of a small carrier bag blown up. What it did do is deafen my hearing for the next half hour coz its so loud, now the car smells of a firework. The police wern't happy, got breath-a-lized and a host of other things. What a S**T DAY.

Sorry to hear this, the reason the steering wheel air bag didn't go off is because the car didn't sense it was a serious enough impact.

I find the Polo is very tail happy in the damp/wet weather - doesn't take much to get it sideways.
I have practised controlling this in a safe environment to know how to handle it.

Hope you get it sorted soon though

mine sticks to the road, but when its damp yea it can slide out.
gutted for ya matey.!hope all goes well and it doesnt end up fookin ya plans up too much.

cheers guys for the support, yer it was damp, and misty. Im still going to get my 9n3, thats for sure. Just waiting for some chap to get back to me on a tt 225bhp engine to go in. Im not of the polo scene just yet!!!!!!!!



Watch this space!!!! TT powerd 9n3

what kind of wheels are u on? mine grip very well both in dry and wet, if i really push it, i get understeer more than oversteer.

hopefully u get sorted out soon and enjoy the new ride!

I need stickier rubber up front for mine. Sticks to the road lovely in the dry but wet you can feel it slipping at 60mph round bends.

sorry to hear about the crash - i did something similar a few months ago - good luck with getting it all sorted.
cheers,
Si

contact me asap! vw side airbags are faulty same thing happend to me! in my old silver one! they basically chatted s**t to me then the next thing i know im bared from my vw dealer as my m8 works there he said there is a fault with the sensors or if the seats have been tamperd with but i never touched my seats on vw did! he said there was a defect and it would cost to much to recal so just left it! they corrected it in the 9n3 but being sold as an optional extra!

Uk_Polo_GTI wrote:contact me asap! vw side airbags are faulty same thing happend to me! in my old silver one! they basically chatted **** to me then the next thing i know im bared from my vw dealer as my m8 works there he said there is a fault with the sensors or if the seats have been tamperd with but i never touched my seats on vw did! he said there was a defect and it would cost to much to recal so just left it! they corrected it in the 9n3 but being sold as an optional extra!

But he crashed the car - the airbag was doing it's job...

i got my old seats if ya need the air bags

@Dino,

you should try Goodyear F1 GSD3. Lovely grip and easy on the edge.

Oversteer in a 9N ? I wish I had some. It has so much grip in the back. Even in rain. I have understeer in all cases. The only way to slide the tail in my car is by backing off in a corner with some sand on the tarmac.

When you're in such a slide in a front wheel drive car like a Polo don't brake or lift the throttle. If you do so the car will spin. To get the rear end back in line, you have to floor the throttle and steer against the direction the car is heading.
I have a old BMW 5 series for fun. That car can switch to big-momentum oversteer sometimes when you push it. Last week I almost lost the back when it started sliding at 80 mph. That was scary as hell. I allready practiced a lot on wet parkings and slow corners which helps a great deal.

Never under-estimate rain and oversteer.

Joy wrote:Oversteer in a 9N ? I wish I had some. It has so much grip in the back. Even in rain. I have understeer in all cases. The only way to slide the tail in my car is by backing off in a corner with some sand on the tarmac.

When you're in such a slide in a front wheel drive car like a Polo don't brake or lift the throttle. If you do so the car will spin. To get the rear end back in line, you have to floor the throttle and steer against the direction the car is heading

Fantastic way to describe how to keep them under control when the rear end does slide.

I have Dunlops on the rear and only have to turn and give it lots of power to the get the rear to step out.

Will deffo give the goodyears a go next time - thanks