Did you know that a collision occurs every 60 seconds? According to the CDC, motor vehicles accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
Over the last 30 years, car manufacturers have worked vigorously to develop the safest features for drivers and passengers alike. One of the most important safety features includes airbags. In fact, frontal airbags have helped reduce fatal collisions by 29%.
While they certainly save lives when they work properly, airbags have also been known to cause serious injuries. Whether an airbag fails to deploy at the right time or simply doesn’t deploy at all, these safety errors can cause serious, if not fatal, injuries.
In the following article, we’ll discuss 4 common safety issues with airbags and what you should do if you were injured by a defective airbag.
What Can Go Wrong with Airbags?
Let’s take a look at how airbags are deployed in the first place.
When a vehicle strikes another object, it loses speed very rapidly. In those brief moments that your vehicle decelerates, an accelerometer (which is an electric chip that measures speed or force) detects this quick change. If the change in speed is drastic enough, then the airbag is triggered.
Sometimes this can go wrong, and when it does the results can be damaging. Here are the 4 most common airbag defects you should know about:
- Airbags can fail to deploy
- Airbags can deploy at the wrong time
- One airbag might deploy, but not all of them
- Airbags can release too aggressively
Any type of airbag defect can be dangerous. If an airbag fails to deploy, there’s essentially nothing stopping the driver or passenger from suffering severe whiplash, or worse. In other instances, like deploying at the wrong time or too aggressively, these errors can cause significant injuries to the face or head.
Common Airbag-Related Injuries
A defective airbag deployment can cause of range of injuries to the body. The speed of airbag deployment, chemicals used in the device and the timing all play significant roles in airbag-related injuries.
Here are several types of injuries caused by a defective airbag:
- Abrasions to the upper part of the body
- Burns to the hands, arms and chest
- Bone fractures to the skull, face, arms and wrists
- Damage to the lungs
- Spine injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Eye injuries
As you can see, any one of these injuries can range from being relatively minor to very severe. If you’ve suffered any type of airbag injury, you may be wondering what your legal rights are to recover compensation for your injuries and losses.
How Can I Sue for Airbag Injuries?
The most important thing you should if you were injured in an accident is call the police and seek medical treatment right away. Once you are safe, you will want to speak with an injury attorney about your collision.
Any injuries due to a defective airbag warrant a rightful legal claim against the car manufacturer or airbag brand. Give us a call today and we’ll go over your legal rights with you. You can call our office at 801-326-0809 or chat with us on our homepage.