TL;DR
- Airbags prevent crash fatalities but can still cause injuries due to their extremely forceful deployment.
- The rapid inflation process often leads to facial trauma, broken ribs, and respiratory issues.
- Sitting too close to the dashboard or failing to wear a seatbelt increases the risk of severe harm.
- Defective airbags with faulty sensors or corroded gas canisters create an even higher danger.
- Victims injured by malfunctioning airbags can seek legal representation to file a defective product claim.
Airbags inarguably save lives, reducing driver deaths by 29% (1) and front-seat passenger deaths by 32% in front-end collisions. When used appropriately with a seatbelt, they efficiently prevent a crash victim from being ejected from the vehicle or from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard on impact. Unfortunately, airbag deployment may also become a source of injuries in an accident due to their extremely forceful deployment. The risk of airbag injuries in a car accident elevates substantially if an airbag doesn’t function correctly or fails to deploy appropriately. Although safety experts agree that the benefits of airbags outweigh the risks, they also acknowledge that airbags cause injuries, including severe injuries and even death, most notably in the now-recalled Takata airbags (2).
What Happens When an Airbag Deploys
When an airbag deploys, crash sensors trigger a pyrotechnic chemical ignition that inflates a woven nylon cushion at speeds up to 200 mph within 20 to 50 milliseconds, creating a protective barrier before rapidly deflating to absorb the occupant’s forward momentum. The deployment process occurs in four distinct phases:
- Crash Detection (0 to 15 Milliseconds): Electronic accelerometer sensors detect severe vehicle deceleration and send an electrical signal to the airbag control module.
- Chemical Ignition and Gas Generation (15 to 30 Milliseconds): The module ignites a solid chemical propellant (typically sodium azide or guanidine nitrate), generating rapid nitrogen gas and expanding outward from the steering wheel or dashboard at 150 to 200 mph.
- Cushioning Impact (30 to 50 Milliseconds): The fully inflated cushion absorbs the occupant’s forward kinetic energy, preventing direct contact with the steering column, dashboard, or windshield.
- Immediate Deflation (50 to 100 Milliseconds): Hot nitrogen gas and fine lubricating powders (talcum or cornstarch) vent out through tiny exhaust ports, allowing the bag to deflate instantly so the occupant can move, breathe, and exit the vehicle.
Even when functioning properly, the forceful inflation of the bag can cause injuries to a motorist’s head, face, and upper body.
What Types of Injuries Occur From Airbags In an Accident?
Injuries commonly occur to the upper portion of the victim’s body from the airbag, even while the device prevents death. Because frontal airbags are engineered to cushion the head and chest before an occupant strikes the steering column or dashboard, these anatomical areas absorb the initial shock wave of the deploying cushion.
Side Effects of Airbag Deployment in a Car Accident
Airbag deployment inflicts physical side effects and trauma after a car accident when the cushion explodes from the dashboard at speeds of 150 to 200 mph within milliseconds. Although airbags intend to prevent fatalities, the sudden blunt force, extreme heat, and chemical discharge can cause secondary medical conditions. Common airbag injuries include the following:
- Facial and Dental Trauma: Broken nasal bones, fractured jawbones, knocked-out teeth, and facial lacerations caused by high-velocity fabric impact.
- Eye Injuries and Corneal Abrasions: Scratched corneas, temporary blindness, or chemical eye irritation triggered by airborne deployment dust and expanding nylon.
- Thermal and Chemical Burns: Second-degree burns from venting exhaust gases reaching up to 500°C, alongside skin rashes and chemical dermatitis caused by alkaline powder residue (talcum mixed with sodium hydroxide).
- Hearing Damage and Tinnitus: Acoustic trauma, eardrum perforation, and persistent ringing in the ears resulting from the 145 to 170-decibel pyrotechnic explosion in an enclosed cabin.
- Chest, Rib, and Sternal Fractures: Cracked or bruised ribs, fractured sternums, and blunt pulmonary contusions caused by direct torso compression.
- Whiplash and Concussive Strain: Concussions and cervical spine sprains triggered by violent head deceleration against the deploying cushion.
- Respiratory and Airway Irritation: Coughing spells, throat burning, and acute chemical asthma attacks caused by inhaling aerosolized nitrogen gas and propellant residue.
- Wrist and Arm Fractures: Fractured wrists (scaphoid fractures) and shoulder dislocations sustained when hands are placed across the horn or steering wheel rim during deployment.
Airbag injuries may be worsened in those who position their seats close to the dash. In the worst cases, airbag deployment can damage the heart muscle or cause aortic rupture, particularly when a motorist’s seatbelt doesn’t function appropriately in conjunction with the airbag, increasing the force of the impact.
What About Airbag Malfunctions?
The risk of serious airbag injuries increases when airbags fail to function correctly. For example, Takata airbags are the subject of a massive recall due to corrosion occurring to the gas canisters over time. Beginning in 2023, ARC airbags face a recall for a similar gas canister defect. The defect in both types of recalled airbags causes dangerous shrapnel to explode outward from the gas canister during ignition in an accident. In other cases, airbags may cause injuries due to malfunctions and defects such as the following:
- Improperly calibrated sensors that allow an airbag to deploy unnecessarily, such as when a driver hits a pothole
- Faulty sensors that fail to trigger airbag deployment when needed
- Too forceful deployment
- Faulty on-off switches or sensors
- Poorly installed or reinstalled airbags
- Electrical system malfunctions
- Counterfeit replacements after a crash
- Airbag design flaws
When a manufacturing or design defect causes an airbag to malfunction and it results in increased car accident injury or death, the injury victim or their family member may recover large truck accident compensation in Oklahoma City through a defective product claim.
Do I Need a Lawyer for an Airbag Injury Claim?
It takes a skilled investigation to identify the cause of your injuries and understand the full medical picture of what happens when an airbag deploys during a collision. While drivers rarely expect the severe force of what happens when airbags deploy in a car, in an accident and to pinpoint an airbag defect or an injury resulting directly from the airbag.
Understanding the long-term side effects of airbag deployment in a car accident is essential when assessing damages. If the accident involved a commercial truck, working with an experienced truck accident lawyer in Oklahoma City can also help identify the parties responsible for the crash and resulting injuries.
It’s necessary to document evidence of liability and present an Oklahoma City accident injury compensation claim to the appropriate entity and their liability insurance company, along with a carefully calculated list of the injury victim’s damages, like medical costs and lost wages.
Call the car accident lawyer OKC trusts at Dan Davis Law Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers for experienced legal representation in your claim.