Airbags are one of the most important safety features inside a vehicle. When we examine the information available from the Insurance Information Institute, we can see that airbags have been required in all new passenger vehicles since 1999. These devices prevent injuries and save lives, but they can also become hazards in their own right if they are defective.
Airbag Safety Statistics
Airbags represent one of the most important safety enhancements in vehicles that have ever occurred. Front airbags, as mentioned above, have been mandated for quite a while. Side airbags are not currently mandated, but just about every vehicle manufacturer includes this as standard equipment in order to meet the federal safety requirements for vehicles.
Data indicates that front airbags reduce driver fatalities in frontal collisions by 29% and front seat passenger fatalities by 32%. Data also indicates that side airbags can help protect the driver’s and passenger’s heads. These airbags reduce the risk of driver death by approximately 37%.
Airbags come with crash sensors that identify various factors related to the vehicle, including sudden deceleration and the speed of the car, which will also correspond to the speed of the airbag deployment. These sensors also help prevent the airbag from being deployed in the event the vehicle hits a bumpy stretch of road or if the driver hits the brakes suddenly. Airbags are only supposed to deploy in the event an accident occurs.
What About Defective Airbags?
Unfortunately, defective airbags can lead to significant injuries. Some of the main ways that airbags become defective include:
- Deployment failure. This would occur if the airbag fails to deploy at all.
- Unnecessary airbag deployment. Include an airbag deploying in a minor incident where otherwise should not or not deploying quickly enough when a severe incident does occur.
- Inadequate deployment. This includes the airbag not inflating appropriately, leading to a failure of protection. Additionally, the airbag could deploy with too much force leading to significant injuries.
- Design defects. This can include oversized airbags coming into contact with other areas of the body as well as incidents of the airbag deploying even accident had not occurred.
Airbags can cause a wide range of injuries. In some cases, these injuries are unavoidable and even a preferable outcome to what could have happened had the airbags not been deployed. However, there are some cases where defective airbags can cause lacerations, broken bones, burn injuries, soft tissue injuries, or even death.
What Happens if a Defective Airbag Causes an Injury
If you think that you are loved one has been injured due to a defective airbag, we encourage you to reach out to a skilled injury attorney in Philadelphia who has experience handling product liability claims. These cases can be challenging, but a lawyer will use their resources to fully investigate the incident and look into other similar incidents around the Commonwealth and the country.
Please understand that there are specific time frames involved with filing these claims. Personal injury claims in Pennsylvania must be filed within two years from the date the incident occurs. A Philadelphia accident lawyer can help ensure that your claim is filed on time, and they will also handle all communication with other parties involved.