Air bags are an important part of safety equipment in modern automobiles, but serious injuries can result when they don’t work properly. Maine attorneys who speak with clients injured in automobiles must have a basic understanding of airbag claims because there are some cases where seeking a product liability remedy may be the only way to fully and adequately protect the client. .

how air bags work

Each airbag system includes crash sensors, a control module, and an airbag module. The sensors respond to sudden changes in a vehicle’s speed or direction by sending electrical signals to the control module. The control module, a small computer, receives those signals and, when appropriate, activates an explosive device in the airbag module, which deploys the bags at more than 200 mph. The time from the start of a crash to full deployment of the airbag is less than a tenth of a second.

Early airbag systems had a single steering wheel-mounted airbag. They were designed to protect the driver in a frontal crash. The theory was that if the sensor could identify a crash event by a sudden change in speed, and if the control module could send a deployment signal, and if the airbag could inflate quickly enough, then the driver would hit the air bag soft and not something harder and more dangerous. This theory has proven to be viable and many injuries have been mitigated or prevented. Air bag systems are now standard safety equipment and also protect the driver and other passengers.

air bag problems

Two common problems with air bag performance are unwanted deployment and failure to deploy. Attorneys representing people injured in car accident cases should consider whether a product liability claim related to airbag malfunction could be a source of recovery for an injured client where there is otherwise no insurance coverage. or insufficient coverage.

unwanted implementation

Unwanted airbag deployment is bad because it can not only cause injuries, but also crashes. This is an important distinction. The airbags were designed to function in response to collision events. In cases of unwanted deployment, there is no collision before deployment or the forces involved in the collision are so low that there should be no deployment. If unintended deployment occurs at high speed, it can disable the driver and cause a crash, injuring people both inside and outside the car. These events can seem like unexplained crashes, as the occupants will rarely be sure what happened.

An unwanted deployment recently occurred in Maine. While driving slowly in a parking lot, the driver’s air bag in a GM sedan spontaneously deployed. The driver was hit in the face and arm by the unfolding bag, sustaining fractures to his face and wrist. The bag deployed as a result of an electrical short circuit in the control module, which was located on the floor of the car. Water from wet boots, leaking window seals and other sources soaked into the carpet and eventually seeped through the control module seals, corroding and damaging electrical circuits. Similar cars were recalled in Canada for exactly this issue, but no recall or warning was issued in the US. The long history of other similar incidents known to the manufacturer made this incident completely avoidable. In another incident several years ago, the driver of a Mitsubishi was pulling out of her driveway and did no more than honk her horn to wave goodbye to her family members when the air bag deployed, causing serious injury to her the arms. Fortunately, these unwanted deployments happened at a slow speed.

An example of unintended deployment leading to a crash involved the driver of a Volvo who was knocked unconscious when his airbag spontaneously deployed at normal highway speed. He lost control and crashed head-on into oncoming traffic. Incidents like this are sometimes mistakenly attributed to driver error because they happen so quickly.

Failed to deploy

Failure to deploy can be the immediate cause of injury and death. These cases are called “aggravated injury” cases because only the portion of the injury that could have been prevented by proper deployment, presumably an aggravated injury, is compensable. Any injury that would have resulted from the crash had the air bag deployed correctly cannot be caused proximally by failure to deploy. Clients with brain injuries or serious neck injuries from frontal collisions in automobiles in which the airbags did not deploy may benefit from a product liability analysis of their case.

Implementation failure occurs when poor sensor design results in an electrical discontinuity between a sensor and the control module. That recently happened to a Maine “snowbird” driving south for the winter. During a frontal collision caused by the other driver, the wire connecting the crash sensor to the control module was severed, resulting in the driver’s airbag not deploying. This should have been a survival crash, but the driver died of head injuries and internal bleeding. The product liability settlement in the case was many times greater than the available automobile liability coverage.

In January 2009, Nissan recalled thousands of trucks sold in snowbelt states, including Maine, because the airbag sensors were not adequately protected from corrosion by road salt. Rather than expose customers to a sensor malfunction leading to non-deployment, Nissan recalled the trucks.

conclusion

Whether buying a car to get to work, taking the kids to school, or family ski trips, people rely on airbags as standard safety equipment. Vehicle manufacturers have the ability to design and manufacture airbag systems that perform reliably and consistently, and attorneys have a duty and an opportunity to hold them accountable when they fail to do so.