Philadelphia Defective Airbag Lawyers
Defective Airbags
Over the years, airbags have become mandatory safety devices in all new cars and vehicles. There is no question that many lives have been saved due to airbags as they are meant to prevent an occupant’s head and body from striking parts of the vehicle and spreading the force of the impact across the body. As the Philadelphia auto product liability lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group are well aware, airbags often do not operate properly, causing devastating injuries and death.
Advanced airbags are designed to meet the needs of the occupant in a variety of specific crash situations. Depending on the design, the system automatically determines if and at what level of power the airbags will and should inflate. The appropriate level of power is based upon several sensor inputs that should detect occupant height, seat position and distance, seat belt use, and crash severity. Containment and ejection are paramount in rollover and vehicle crashes.
Airbag Recalls: When Defect Warnings Come Too Late
In the last year, many automobile manufacturers recalled their vehicles due to airbag defects and component failures. Many times, "smart" airbag detection systems fail and many times defective airbag design or installation can fool a "smart" airbag into not deploying when it should deploy or to over-aggressively deploying. Many "smart" airbags determine how forceful to deploy based upon the weight of the passenger. Many of these systems utilize a sensor on the seat bottom to determine the weight. Other systems may use bladders filled with gel, which basically 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, the smart system is tricked, resulting in death or catastrophic injury to a passenger. Children and smaller sized passengers in motor vehicles are at the greatest risk for catastrophic injury when an airbag improperly deploys or fails to deploy.
The Purpose of Airbags
Airbags were developed in the 1950s but it was not until the 1980s that airbags became mandatory safety equipment in new cars. The driver’s airbag is found within the steering wheel, which protects the driver from hitting the wheel or dashboard. During an automobile accident, four types of impact may occur:
- between the vehicle and an outside object;
- between the occupants and the interior of the vehicle;
- between the occupants’ organs and an enclosing body wall such as the brain and skull; and,
- between occupants and any loose objects in the vehicle.
Airbags and seat belts are meant to restrain the passenger or driver and protect the occupant from impact within the interior of the car. Airbags work when the car decelerates very quickly as during a collision and a sensor triggers a chemical reaction that produces a non-toxic gas which inflates the airbag. When the airbag inflates, dusting gases are released within the car. These gases and dust can cause asthma, chemical injuries or burns, or other irritations or breathing and respiratory issues. The entire process of inflating and deflating an airbag takes less than a second.
Types of Airbag Injuries
Airbags need to react extremely fast in a collision, particularly if an occupant is not wearing a seat belt. Airbags can deploy at over 200 mph to protect an unrestrained occupant. Since airbags have to deploy so quickly, injuries often occur from the extreme speed at which the airbag inflates causing catastrophic injuries to the eyes, blindness, closed head injury, brain injury, loss of limbs, scarring, paralysis, loss of hearing, broken bones, severance of a body part, and unfortunately even death.
The height and weight of a victim plays a role in the severity of an airbag injury. Web MD reports that occupants who are taller or shorter than those of medium height (5'3" to 5'11") have a 4 to 5% risk of serious injury. Airbags are not normally tested on shorter or taller occupants, leaving them at risk. Height also affects the distance of the driver from the wheel. The distance between the occupant and airbag changes how the airbag impacts the body during deployment. Every airbag deployment is so unique that there is no precise distance to prevent possible injury.
Airbag Accident Statistics and Defect Causes
According to a report from NHTSA from 1990 to 2001, there were hundreds of deaths caused by airbags inflating in low severity crashes. These deaths included 72 drivers and 10 adult passengers and 111 children between the ages of 1 to 11, as well as 22 infants. Other airbag defects and problems include, but are not limited to the following:
- use of cheaper defective sensors;
- non-deployment or inadvertent deployment of the airbags;
- airbags without tethers;
- straps 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 (mistakes in the number, size, or location of gas vents and pattern used to fold the airbag);
- improper airbags (size or type), or lack of airbags;
- failure to test airbags;
- inadequate consumer warnings, or failure to warn of known dangers; and,
- failure to incorporate technology that could reduce the risk of airbag related injury.
Legal Trailblazing for Airbag Accident Victims
The Philadelphia airbag defect lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group have a successful track record representing catastrophically injured victims and family members of those wrongfully killed for over 55 years. We have acquired years of unmatched experience in fighting against some of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers and manufacturers of component parts with some of the highest record-breaking results achieved for our clients injured by airbag defects. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us online http://www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 800-588-0130.
