When Airbags Cause Serious Injuries

Airbags are designed to save lives. In a serious crash, they can prevent a driver’s or passenger’s head and upper body from striking the steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, doors, or other parts of the vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that frontal airbags have saved more than 50,000 lives over a 30-year period.

But an airbag is not harmless when it deploys. It must inflate extremely rapidly—generally in less than 1/20th of a second—to provide protection during a crash. That rapid deployment can cause serious injuries, even when the airbag operates exactly as it was designed to operate.

This creates an important issue after a California auto accident. A person may suffer an injury directly associated with airbag deployment without having a defective airbag. In those circumstances, the fact that an airbag caused an injury does not necessarily mean that the manufacturer is responsible. Depending on the circumstances, the negligent driver who caused the collision may be responsible for the resulting injuries, including injuries caused by the normal deployment of a properly functioning airbag.

Understanding that distinction can be important when bringing a claim for compensation against the party who is legally responsible for the resulting harm.

Why Can a Properly Working Airbag Cause an Injury?

An airbag has to deploy extremely quickly to perform its intended safety function. When the vehicle’s sensors detect crash conditions that call for deployment, the airbag system sends a signal to an inflator. A chemical reaction produces gas, causing the bag to inflate almost instantaneously.

The forces involved can be substantial.

An occupant who is moving forward during a collision may encounter the deploying airbag while the bag is still inflating. The airbag can strike the occupant’s face, chest, arms, hands, or other parts of the body. The same deployment that prevents a person’s head from hitting the steering wheel can cause other injuries in the process.

NHTSA warns that serious or fatal injuries can occur when a person is too close to or comes into direct contact with an airbag as it begins to deploy. This is one reason proper seating position and seat belt use are important.

The fact that deployment produces enough force to cause injury, however, does not by itself establish that the airbag malfunctioned.

What Types of Injuries Can Airbags Cause?

Airbag-related injuries can range from relatively minor injuries to serious and permanent trauma. The nature of the injury depends on factors such as the occupant’s position, the direction and severity of the collision, the type of airbag, whether a seat belt was being used, and how the person’s body moved during the crash.

Facial and Head Injuries

A deploying frontal airbag can strike the face and head with significant force. Occupants may suffer facial trauma, fractures, lacerations, bruising, or other injuries.

Airbag deployment can also produce injuries when an occupant’s head or face moves into the path of the rapidly expanding bag.

In some crashes, the airbag may prevent an even more serious head injury by keeping the occupant from striking the steering wheel or dashboard. That does not mean the resulting airbag injury is insignificant. A person can sustain substantial facial or head trauma from deployment while the airbag is simultaneously performing its intended protective function.

Eye Injuries

The eyes are particularly vulnerable to trauma during an automobile collision. A rapidly deploying airbag can strike the face and eye area, potentially causing significant ocular injuries.

California appellate litigation has addressed allegations involving eye injuries from airbag deployment. In Gonzalez v. Autoliv ASP, Inc., the plaintiff alleged that a front airbag caused an eye injury when it deployed in a collision. The case illustrates that an airbag-related injury can raise a product liability question when there is evidence suggesting a defect in the airbag’s design or performance.

Arm, Hand, and Shoulder Injuries

The arms and hands can also be injured when an airbag deploys. A person’s hands may be positioned on or near the steering wheel when a collision occurs. The rapidly expanding airbag can strike the arms or hands and force them into another part of the vehicle.

In Bresnahan v. Chrysler Corp., a California appellate court considered evidence that an airbag could cause arm injuries as an incidental consequence of its intended deployment. The case involved a driver who suffered arm injuries after the airbag deployed in a relatively low-speed collision. Evidence showed that the airbag was designed to protect against potentially fatal head and chest injuries but could also produce predictable arm injuries under certain circumstances.

That distinction is important. An airbag can perform its primary safety function while still causing another type of injury.

Chest and Rib Injuries

A frontal airbag can also cause trauma to the chest. Depending on the circumstances, an occupant may suffer bruising, fractures, or other chest injuries. The severity of the injury may depend on the occupant’s position, movement, the force of the collision, and the interaction between the occupant, seat belt, and airbag.

The airbag is intended to work together with the seat belt, not replace it. NHTSA specifically describes airbags as supplemental protection and emphasizes that they are designed to work with seat belts.

Neck and Other Soft-Tissue Injuries

Rapid movement during a collision can place significant forces on the neck and upper body. Airbag deployment can be one component of that movement.

Determining the source of a particular neck or soft-tissue injury may therefore require more than simply looking at whether the airbag deployed. Medical records, photographs, vehicle evidence, crash dynamics, and expert analysis may be necessary to determine how the injury occurred.

Burns and Chemical Irritation

Airbag deployment involves an inflator that produces gas through a chemical reaction. Occupants may experience burns or irritation associated with deployment products. NHTSA has also discussed potential exposure to airborne by-products following deployment.

These injuries may be particularly concerning when they occur along with other trauma from the collision.

Does an Airbag Injury Mean the Airbag Was Defective?

This is one of the most important distinctions in an airbag injury case. A defective airbag may fail to deploy when it should, deploy when it should not, deploy improperly, inflate incorrectly, or otherwise present an unreasonable safety hazard. But an airbag can also cause an injury simply because of the forces involved in its intended operation.

The critical question in a product liability case is therefore not simply whether the airbag caused an injury. It is whether a legally actionable defect or other product-related conduct caused the injury.

California’s product liability rules recognize claims involving manufacturing defects, design defects, and other theories depending on the circumstances. The California Civil Jury Instructions explain that a manufacturer can be liable when a defect in its product is a legal cause of injury, meaning the defect was a substantial factor in producing the injury.

When Could a Defective Airbag Be Responsible?

There are circumstances in which an airbag manufacturer, vehicle manufacturer, distributor, repair facility, or another responsible party could potentially face liability.

For example, an airbag might have a manufacturing defect that causes it to differ from its intended design. A design might expose occupants to an unreasonable risk of injury. A warning or instruction might fail to adequately communicate a known danger.

There are also serious concerns involving counterfeit or defective replacement airbag inflators. NHTSA has warned about substandard replacement inflators that can rupture during deployment and send metal fragments into an occupant’s body.

Those circumstances are fundamentally different from an injury caused by an airbag that deployed normally and functioned as intended.

A product liability investigation should therefore examine the actual airbag, inflator, vehicle history, repair history, recalls, deployment characteristics, and available technical evidence before concluding that a product defect caused the injury.

Who Pays When a Properly Functioning Airbag Causes an Injury?

This is where causation becomes particularly important. Suppose another driver runs a red light and crashes into your vehicle. The collision causes your vehicle’s airbag to deploy normally. The airbag strikes your arm and causes a fracture. The airbag may have operated exactly as designed. There may be no defective product at all, but that does not mean you are left without a claim for the arm injury.

The negligent driver’s conduct caused the collision, and without that collision, the airbag would not have deployed. If the deployment and resulting injury were a foreseeable consequence of the crash, the negligent driver’s conduct may be a substantial factor in causing the injury.

California’s causation principles recognize that a defendant’s conduct need not be the only cause of an injury. The relevant question is whether the conduct was a substantial factor in producing the harm.

California’s civil jury instructions also recognize that an intervening event does not necessarily eliminate liability when the intervening event and resulting harm fall within the foreseeable scope of the original conduct.

In other words, the negligent driver cannot avoid responsibility for all injuries resulting from the crash simply by arguing that the vehicle’s safety system, rather than the collision itself, physically inflicted the injury.

What If the Airbag Made the Injuries Worse?

A victim may have suffered less serious injuries if the airbag had not deployed—or might have suffered different injuries altogether. That does not necessarily answer the liability question. The relevant issue is what actually caused the injuries and whether the negligent driver’s conduct was a substantial factor in producing them.

This may require medical and biomechanical evidence. An accident reconstruction expert may analyze the crash dynamics and the airbag’s deployment. A medical expert may evaluate the nature and mechanism of the injury. Together, the evidence may help distinguish injuries caused by the initial collision from injuries associated with airbag deployment.

This distinction can become especially important when an injured person has multiple injuries with different mechanisms.

What Evidence Matters in an Airbag Injury Case?

An investigation should preserve evidence that can help reconstruct both the collision and the airbag deployment.

Important evidence may include the vehicle itself, photographs of the deployed airbag and vehicle interior, photographs of visible injuries, medical records, police reports, witness statements, surveillance or dash-camera footage, seat belt evidence, and information about the vehicle’s make, model, age, repair history, and recalls.

The condition of the airbag and its components may also be important. If a product defect is suspected, the vehicle and airbag system may need to be preserved for examination rather than discarded or repaired before the relevant evidence is documented.

The objective is to determine whether the injury resulted from the collision, the airbag deployment, a defect in the airbag system, or some combination of these factors.

How Can an Attorney Determine Who Is Responsible?

An airbag injury can involve more than one potential theory of liability, which makes careful investigation important.

If another driver’s negligence caused the collision and a properly functioning airbag injured the occupant, the negligent driver may be responsible for the resulting injury because the crash set the deployment and resulting chain of events in motion.

If evidence instead indicates that the airbag malfunctioned or contained a defect that contributed to the injury, there may also be a product liability claim against an appropriate manufacturer, distributor, seller, or other responsible party.

In some cases, both theories may need to be investigated. The existence of an airbag injury should not automatically lead an investigator to assume either that the product was defective or that the other driver is solely responsible.

What Should You Do After an Airbag-Related Injury in California?

If you were injured when an airbag deployed during a California auto accident, it is important to preserve evidence that may help explain how the injury occurred.

Do not assume that because the airbag deployed normally, there is no claim for the resulting injury. At the same time, do not assume that an injury caused by an airbag proves that the airbag was defective.

Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP can investigate the collision, examine the circumstances surrounding airbag deployment, preserve relevant vehicle evidence, and work with appropriate experts when necessary to determine how the injuries occurred. The firm can also evaluate whether the facts support a claim against the negligent driver, a vehicle or airbag manufacturer, or another potentially responsible party.

An airbag’s purpose is to reduce the risk of catastrophic injury in a crash. But the forces necessary for an airbag to perform that function can themselves cause serious harm. When that happens, understanding the difference between a properly functioning safety device and a defective product and understanding the causal chain connecting the crash to the resulting injury can be critical to pursuing full compensation.

If you or a loved one suffered serious injuries when an airbag deployed in a California auto accident, contact Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP to discuss the circumstances of the crash and the evidence that may support your claim.