NHTSA Complaint #10322430 — 2005 HONDA ELEMENT

I WAS LEAVING WORK, DRIVING ABOUT 10 MILES AN HOUR AND WITHOUT WARNING THERE WAS A HUGE BOOM IN MY EAR, POWDER WAS IN THE AIR, THE LEFT SIDE OF MY FACE WAS NUMB (LATER, RED FROM HEATED AIR), MY LEFT SIDE WAS SHOVED FORWARD AND MY LEFT EAR WAS RINGING. MY SIDE IMPACT AIRBAG WENT OFF AS I WAS TAKING A LEFT TURN! I THOUGHT I HAD BEEN HIT BY A CAR...EXCEPT THERE WAS NO OTHER CARS AROUND. I PULLED OVER AND COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED UNTIL I OPENED MY DOOR, STEPPED OUT AND SAW THE AIRBAG HANGING OUT OF THE SEAT. SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME! I AM GLAD I WASN'T ON THE FREEWAY AT A FASTER SPEED, I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE CRASHED! VERY SORE NOW THOUGH. LEFT SIDE IS SORE, NECK IS VERY SORE! I DROVE TO THE HONDA DEALERSHIP AFTERWARD AND SPOKE TO THE MANAGER (NEFF) OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT. THEY HAD A TECHNICIAN (TIM) HOOK UP SOME DATA MACHINE TO MY 2005 HONDA ELEMENT 4WD - EX. I WAS ADVISED TO COME BACK ON MONDAY AND DROP THE CAR OFF SO THEY COULD CONTACT HONDA CORPORATE HQ AND GET A DIRECTION TO PROCEED. THE TECHNICIAN (TIM), AND MANAGER (NEFF) ADVISED ME THAT UNTIL IT WAS REPAIRED, MY OTHER AIRBAGS WOULD NOT WORK. THEY ALSO STATED THAT THEY HAD NEVER SEEN SOMETHING HAPPEN LIKE THIS. AFTER A GOOGLE SEARCH OF 'HONDA ELEMENT AIRBAG DEFECTS' IT APPEARS THAT IT IS A PRETTY PREVALENT PROBLEM. I HAVE TEMPORARILY PARKED THE CAR AT MY HOUSE UNTIL MONDAY'S MAINTENANCE APPOINTMENT.