NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Defect Petition DP11-001: Frontal Air Bag Non-deployment
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Defect Petition DP11-001 on April 7, 2011 and closed it on August 19, 2011. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2008 Toyota Corolla for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- DP11-001 (also written DP11001)
- Investigation type
- Defect Petition A petition asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; NHTSA grants or denies it, and granting one opens an investigation.
- Status
- Closed August 19, 2011
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Toyota Motor Corporation
- Components
- Air Bags; Air Bags — Frontal
- Vehicles and equipment
- 2008 Toyota Corolla
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Defect Petition DP11-001.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a defect petition requesting that it open an investigation of model year (MY) 2008 Toyota Corolla vehicles for the failure of the frontal air bags to deploy during an alleged serious crash. The petitioner alleges that the frontal air bags in their MY 2008 Corolla failed to deploy during a 55-mph frontal impact with a large animal (a deer).
The petitioner also filed a complaint with the agency (see ODI 10327470 for further details of the incident and the petition submitted to the agency).
ODI has reviewed the petition, assessed consumer complaints on the MY 2008 Toyota Corolla and similar vehicles, analyzed statistics derived from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and its National Automotive Sampling System (NASS), and evaluated crash tests of the subject vehicles.
Based on its review, ODI does not believe that a safety-related defect trend currently exists for air bag non-deployment in the subject vehicles.
Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources to accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is denied.
However, the agency will continue to monitor this event and will take further action if warranted by changing future circumstances.
For more information, see the Federal Register notice in the DP11-001 file (www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects).
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Defect Petition DP11-001. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Toyota
Toyota Corolla
What an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Toyota VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for DP11-001
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.