Hello all,

My new Octavia Estate vRS has arrived at the dealers. I signed the paperwork last Thursday and then had a look at the car.

It was still wearing its protective clothing and was filthy from the crossing, but it was great to finally see it and start checking it over.

All was well as I checked the options until.............I looked at the curtain airbags. On my Golf there is a bag clearly marked on each of the A, B and C pillars.

The Octy only has 'Airbag' marked on the A pillars, and just grey plastic trim on the B and C pillars.

I immediately queried this with the sales team (along with the other more obvious misbuild issue which I'll come to in a minute!)

They also thought that the B and C pillar bags had been missed out, and a diagnostic check confirmed (I'm told) that there are indeed no bags in these pillars.

We therefore started discussing options etc.

To cut a very long story short, the dealer called me today and told me that there is now a new design of curtain airbag that deploys from the A pillar and back down the side of the car, protecting both front and rear passengers. More like a curtain......

I was sceptical and called Skoda customer services. One of their technical guys called me back very quickly and confirmed this. Anyone else come across this in their new cars?

The other issue I mentioned is more comical and unbelievable than serious. I ordered black leather (very nice), but the rear offside seat squab (think that's the right word, the bit your bum sits on) is a grey/blue cloth material - all on it's own!! How did that happen? How did that get through the fianl check at the factory? The dealer was absolutely stunned and will have the squab changed for me as soon as he can. Has anyone ever seen anything more random on a new car?

Cheers, dunc

Update - it turns out that Customer Services called the dealers before calling me back. My cynical side worries that they have concocted this 'new airbag' story together to avoid me rejecting the car and the grief that that would cause them.

Could anyone with a new car with curtain airbags confirm that they are now only in the A pillar and deploy from there back to cover the whole side of the car?

Would stop me worrying about the kids in an accident!

Many thanks, dunc

I think its highly unlikely that an airbag in the A pillar could provide protection for the rear passenger. Remember that deployment time is around 50 milliseconds. It would have to inflate at greater than the speed of sound to reach the back passenger! There is also the problem of the side airbags which are in the side of the seats, impeding this "travelling curtain airbag"

The only car I had with curtain airbags was a Corsa D. They were visible in the roof lining above the doors. I would think that the logical place for them.

I queried this wil Skoda UK also as all FL cars seem to just have A pillar SRS badges.

I got this back:

Dear Mr Foo,

Thank you for your email dated 8 June 2010 regarding your query about your air bags.

I would first like to apologise for the delay in response.

Having consulted our Master Technician I can confirm that the curtain airbag is from the A pillar to the C pillar.

Thank you for contacting Skoda Customer Services

Kind Regards

Ian Watson

Customer Service Advisor

Skoda Auto Customer Services

I cannot see that they would lie and leave themselves open to hideous litigation if anyone crashes.

I think its highly unlikely that an airbag in the A pillar could provide protection for the rear passenger. Remember that deployment time is around 50 milliseconds. It would have to inflate at greater than the speed of sound to reach the back passenger! There is also the problem of the side airbags which are in the side of the seats, impeding this "travelling curtain airbag"

The only car I had with curtain airbags was a Corsa D. They were visible in the roof lining above the doors. I would think that the logical place for them.

If the badges only need to be where the detonator/gas is then it still seems feasible to have a bag along the roofline.

There have been some other threads relating to this.

From memory, the curtain airbag deploys from the headling and the only indication is on the 'A' pillar.

My FL vRS does not have curtain airbags, and does not have any indication on the 'A' pillar.

Bizarre mix-up with your leather seats though!

Have to say that sounds like bull**** to me as well. I would look to get something in writing from your dealer confirming that you have paid for and received rear curtain airbags. If all is as they say it is, that shouldn't be a problem. However the potential consequences of them putting this in writing and (god forbid) you ever having the misfortune to find out they weren't there should make them think twice.

There have been some other threads relating to this.

From memory, the curtain airbag deploys from the headling and the only indication is on the 'A' pillar.

My FL vRS does not have curtain airbags, and does not have any indication on the 'A' pillar.

Bizarre mix-up with your leather seats though!

Aah well that makes more sense..but would they still not show up on a VCDS scan even if fitted?

Thanks for all the responses!

I have just checked my brochure, and it says 'Curtain Airbags' for the option choice. No mention of front or rear.

Your replies at least tell me that I have the usual Octavia system rather than two-thirds of my system being missing.

My wife has emailed Euro NCAP to ask their views on the Skoda system. I'll post their reply.

Cheers, dunc.

The change in the curtain airbags has been covered several times. The facelift vRS I rejected was the same.

The change in the curtain airbags has been covered several times. The facelift vRS I rejected was the same.

Thanks. Should have done a search first!

Out of interest, why did you reject the FL vRS?

my none facelift vrs estate (58 plate) has curtain airbags and only shows the airbag sign on the a pillar. The rears are solid plastic so it sounds the same as yours. There's definately airbag there which goes along the roof as I saw them when I had the roof down to fit the bluetooth microphone. I don think its anything to worry about

I can take some pics later if you want?

Out of interest, why did you reject the FL vRS?

General poor build / paint quality.

General poor build / paint quality.

Was that recently? Do you think build quality is dropping?

my none facelift vrs estate (58 plate) has curtain airbags and only shows the airbag sign on the a pillar. The rears are solid plastic so it sounds the same as yours. There's definately airbag there which goes along the roof as I saw them when I had the roof down to fit the bluetooth microphone. I don think its anything to worry about

I can take some pics later if you want?

Many thanks. That's very reassuring! Pics would be interesting.

Cheers.

my none facelift vrs estate (58 plate) has curtain airbags and only shows the airbag sign on the a pillar. The rears are solid plastic so it sounds the same as yours. There's definately airbag there which goes along the roof as I saw them when I had the roof down to fit the bluetooth microphone. I don think its anything to worry about

I can take some pics later if you want?

weird, my 06 has airbag signs on A, B and C pillars... and the actual pillars arent plastic, but cloth...

I though part of NCAP was to clearly label where airbags are (so that passengers know where they may pop out from when carrying fragile loads ie babies etc.). If there aint a badge, no iarbag...

Suppose there is only one sure fire way of knowing whthere yoou have them or not...

I thought the labeling was so rescue teams knew where not to use the jaws of life.

Many thanks. That's very reassuring! Pics would be interesting.

Cheers.

crap, sorry all but i gave out duff info. Ive just been out to check my pillars and all of them are cloth above the headrest. The A, B and C pillar all have an airbag symbol too. Sorry for confusing matters dunc, i must of been thinking of my L&K pillars.

sorry for the duff info again :(

a pillar

b pillar

c pillar

As said before this is a pre facelift 58 plate so the design may well have changed. as wega says theres a change in the FL version but I havent searched for this as the search doesnt work too well nowadays

I only have the airbag symbol on the A pillar.

My old car which had nine airbags showed a symbol at each point.

This thing better have full curtains down the side, I like to protect my kids as much as possible.

Edited 6 July, 201015 yr by Pickings01

I only have the airbag symbol on the A pillar.

My old car which had nine airbags showed a symbol at each point.

This thing better have full curtains down the side.

Yeah my current Elegance has the Airbag symbol 3 times on each side. The Scout I'm picking up next week has Curtain Airbags. How can they delpoy all the way down the car from one point on the A Pillar ?

crap, sorry all but i gave out duff info. Ive just been out to check my pillars and all of them are cloth above the headrest. The A, B and C pillar all have an airbag symbol too. Sorry for confusing matters dunc, i must of been thinking of my L&K pillars.

No worries at all re any confusion. I have found out what I needed to know - i.e. my build is correct (if you discount the seat issue).

Thanks for the photos, same as my Golf, and I guess the previous design. Just hope the new one isn't just a cheaper option and will protect my kids just as well!

My FL has the curtain airbag option, well I certainly paid extra for them! and it only has the 'AIRBAG' symbol on the 'A' post. This thread is making me think I am missing something!

Anyone got a FL car with 'AIRBAG' symbols on the A.B and C posts?

Im sure (although don't quote me) that the new Curtain Airbag system now deploys from the roof lining, so in effect dropping down from the roof. The Gas is in the A Pillar which is why it has Airbag written on it. This is so that if you have to be cut out of the car and they haven't deployed the fire crew know where to not start chopping potentially causing the bags to deploy.

I have the markings on All 3 pillars on my L&K but it is Pre-FL.

The easy way for you to check is just peel back the roof lining and have a look if you can see the bag. It's not hard to do and you won't void anything by having a look. If your not confident take the car back to the dealer and ask them to show you the actual airbag. They can do this in 2 mins or less so it's not a hard job

I ordered my new petrol vRS on Sunday, and specified curtain airbags. As the Stig says in the post above, the salesman confirmed that the main components of the curtain airbag are in A pillar, but they do protect rear passengers too. It's a new design on the facelift models, he said.