Airbags Are Supposed To Protect You and Not Cause Injuries Or Kill You
Over the years airbags have become a mandatory safety device in all cars. Front airbags are meant to prevent a driver’s or passenger’s head from hitting the dash board, steering wheel, door, or windshield after an accident. Side airbags are installed to prevent blunt force trauma and serious internal injuries to vital organs such as the lungs, heart, liver, spleen and intestines. Due to the speed of airbag deployment and the chemicals used to inflate them, there is always the possibility that airbags can do more harm than good when there is a product failure or design defect.
The experienced Philadelphia auto product liability lawyers of The Beasley Firm understand that when airbags do not operate properly, there is a significant chance of a catastrophic injury, including but not limited to blindness, facial or eye orbit fractures, paraplegia, quadriplegia, broken neck, spinal injuries, chemical burns, internal injuries, hemorrhage, and unfortunately even death.
Airbag Components And A Tendency To Fail
Vehicles manufactured after 2007 contain a smart airbag detection system. The smart airbag system is supposed to determine how much force is used to deploy the airbag based upon the weight of the passenger. Some systems utilize a sensor on the seat bottom to determine the weight of the passenger while others may use bladders filled with gel which typically tell the airbag controller not to deploy in a crash when a front seat passenger weighs less than 105 lbs. Many times due to variations in temperature or sensor defect, this system is tricked and you can have a non-deployment or over aggressive deployment of the airbag resulting in a death, spinal injury, brain injury, quadriplegia, paraplegia, blindness, internal injuries, trauma and damage to major organs, significant internal bleeding, and severe burns.
Recently many of the automobile manufacturers have recalled their vehicles due to the fact that airbags were failing to deploy properly due to computer glitches. Recent recalls include but are not limited to Chrysler, Grand Cherokee, Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Mitsubishi, Toyota, as well as many other manufacturers. Airbags typically deploy at over 200 mph to protect the passenger or driver. Since airbags deploy so quickly, injuries such as burns, scarring, paralysis, blindness, loss of hearing, broken facial bones, severance of a body part, internal injuries, or even death are frequent in a malfunction.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Nissan 1994 and some of the 1995 Altima passenger airbags deployed so quickly that severe eye injuries and blindness were caused. Our skilled airbag defect lawyers were able to prove in a recent case that the airbag in one of those vehicles was too powerful, and in a very minor impact collision with a pole that caused no damage to the vehicle, caused permanent blindness in a young college student.
How Can Airbags Be Defective?
Each year there are hundreds of airbag related deaths caused by airbags inflating in minor impact cases. Many airbag defects include the use of cheap or defective sensors, non-deployment or inadvertent deployment of the airbag, airbags (without tethers) strapped and sewn inside the airbag which physically prevent the airbag from extending all the way to the occupant, inferior algorithms (mathematical formulas used to determine if and when to deploy the airbag), venting and folding defects (mistake in the number, size, and location of the gas vents and pattern used to fold the airbag), improper airbags (size or type), lack of airbags, failure to test airbags, inadequate consumer warnings or failure to warn of known dangers, and failure to incorporate technology that can reduce the risk of airbag related injuries.
Our lawyers are currently involved in a case where a side airbag failed to properly deploy resulting in closed head trauma and significant brain damage to a once vibrant, hardworking mother of two children. As a result, the family will be left with millions of dollars of medical bills for treatment required over the victim’s lifetime. The husband of the victim is now also unable to work and must care for his two young children. Simply put, the victim and her family have had the wind knocked out of their sails in an emotional and financial manner and deserve to be compensated by the manufacturers.
Since 1958, the experienced Philadelphia product liability lawyers of the legendary Beasley Firm have set the benchmark in product liability and airbag litigation. Our highly specialized teams have been awarded over $2 billion for our clients.
If you are in need of an auto accident attorney because you or a family member has suffered a serious injury as a result of a defective airbag, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia defective airbag injury lawyers at The Beasley Firm at 1-800-588-0130 or online.
