What Types of Injuries Can You Get When an Airbag Fails?

Airbags exist to help soften the blow of injuries in a car accident. Even when an airbag deploys, though, it can cause injuries. But the harm that you can sustain from an airbag is much less serious than the damages that you could suffer when an airbag fails. When an important safety feature in your car fails in the moment you need them the most, you could sustain serious, life-threatening injuries.

Airbag manufacturers have a serious job—to ensure their product works and isn’t defective. When they aren’t as diligent as they should be and create a defective product, they’re putting passengers’ lives at risk. If your airbags failed to deploy, you could use the help of a product liability lawyer.

You shouldn’t have sustained injuries from a defective airbag, and the manufacturer or seller needs to be held responsible for what you’ve suffered. Let’s take a look at what types of injuries you can get when an airbag fails to deploy.

Injuries from a Defective Airbag

Airbags are designed to deploy when a car is in a collision. A chemical reaction is what causes airbags to inflate—the reaction ignites and creates a gas that inflates the bag within less than 1/20^th of a second. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), frontal and side airbags will deploy in severe crashes with other vehicles and objects and can even inflate in minor wrecks as well.

Since the airbags fill so quickly, the force of the bags inflating could cause serious damage to passengers if they’re too close to them, but the danger of serious injuries is higher when the airbags fail to deploy. Here are some of the injuries that you could sustain in a car accident if your airbags fail:

• Bruises
• Soft tissue injuries
• Broken bones
• Traumatic head injuries
• Neck and back injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Internal organ damage
• Internal bleeding

While some of these injuries are mild, many of them can have serious effects on the rest of your life. You could end up needing serious medical treatment, physical therapy, or even lifelong medical equipment and help for the rest of your life. The severe injuries could even cause you to be unable to work for the time being, or even could keep you from being able to work ever again.

That’s why you should have a lawyer on your side after your airbags fail in a motor vehicle wreck. A product liability lawyer will be able to hold the negligent company accountable for their defective products that led to your serious injuries.

Could Your Airbags Be Defective?

Now you might be concerned that your airbags are defective and concerned that you won’t know until you need them. That’s the problem with defective airbags—you won’t know that they don’t work until it’s crucial that they work. The NHTSA has a list of vehicles with recalled airbags in them so that you don’t have to do any of the guesswork.

Takata airbags are under recall in many different makes and models of vehicles, so it’s possible that the car or truck you drive is included in that list. You’ll need to check your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to ensure that your vehicle does or does not have these airbags in them.

If you do have a vehicle listed as having recalled airbags, try not to worry. There are vehicles with more dangerous airbags than in others, as some spontaneously explode and hurt and kill the drivers and passengers. When you check your VIN to see if the airbags are recalled, you’ll also want to check to see if your vehicle’s airbags are included on the most dangerous ones that could spontaneously explode.

Bey & Associates Will Fight for Your Rights

Manufacturing companies need to be diligent, especially when they’re making products as important as airbags. There isn’t any room for defective airbags because they are crucial to saving passengers’ lives in car accidents. That’s why you should hold the manufacturing company accountable for their negligence when a defective airbag leads to your injuries.

At Bey & Associates, we understand that you’re feeling vulnerable and stressed after being harmed by a defective airbag and have bills and recovery to think about. That’s why our product liability lawyers in Atlanta are here to represent you in your claim. We’ll handle the legal side of things while you focus on recovery and healing. Reach out to our office today so that we can get started on your claim.