Injuries From Airbags

The development of airbags was a huge step forward in motor vehicle safety. When coupled with proper seat belt use, they provide a chance for accidents that would usually cause serious injuries or death to result in nothing more than minor scrapes and bruises. Their effectiveness prompted the government to make them a requirement in all new cars starting in 1989. This is unsurprising when you consider the fact that, according to the national highway Traffic Safety Administration, frontal airbags helped save 12,000 lives in the 42 years from 1960 to 2002.

The system that deploys a car's airbags during an accident is far from simple. There are various sensors placed around the vehicles body. When one of these sensors detects an accident, it sends information regarding the severity and speed of the impact to the vehicles electronic control unit (ECU). This onboard computer then determines how fast to inflate the airbags and sends the signal to the inflation device.

When things go as intended, the airbag reaches full inflation right before the person's body reaches it, and then almost instantly deflates so that the person does not bounce off with a large amount of force. If the bag inflates early, it will not adequately stop the person's forward momentum and they may slam into the dash or steering wheel. On the other hand, if deployment is late, the airbag will hit the person while it is still inflating. As the inflation takes place at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour, this can cause serious trauma, particularly to the chest, head, and face. When dealing with the extreme forces and speeds of a car accident, precision is very important.

Another potential danger is the situation where a car's airbags deploy during an accident that is not serious enough to warrant their use. Unnecessary airbag deployment in low-severity wrecks caused over 200 deaths between 1990 and 2001. Even more serious, though, is the possibility that airbags will not deploy in a wreck where they are needed. This situation is responsible for four times more airbag-related injuries than are faulty deployments.

While most airbag injuries are the result of "normal" airbag function, a small percentage of serious injuries each year are caused by defective manufacturing practices or airbag materials. In these instances, the manufacturer may be held liable for damages.

AIRBAG INJURIES