Airbags reduce crash fatalities by 30 percent but can cause serious injuries when occupants sit too close, when defects cause premature deployment or failure, or when metal shrapnel is released during inflation.
Key Takeaways
- Airbags save lives but require proper distance to work safely. You need at least 10 inches between you and the airbag to avoid chest or breastbone injuries from the explosive deployment force.
- Small adults, women, elderly passengers, and children face higher injury risk. The high-force impact often strikes the head or neck in these groups, causing more traumatic injuries than the airbag prevents.
- Defective airbags can fail to deploy or inflate without warning. Manufacturing defects like the Takata recall—which affected over 30 million vehicles—can turn a safety device into a deadly hazard that shoots metal shrapnel at occupants.
- Side-impact and side-curtain airbags carry additional risks. These airbag types have higher recall rates and more frequent defect issues than standard front airbags.
- You have legal options if a defective airbag injured you. An experienced personal injury attorney can protect your rights and pursue compensation when an airbag causes unwarranted harm in a crash.
Airbags have been around since the early 1980's as a shield of protection or cushion to guard against forceful impact between a vehicle's occupant and the surrounding metal car, in the case of a collision or crash.1 The airbag's purpose is structured around its three part design including: a thin nylon folded bag within the steering wheel or dashboard, an internal sensor that detects collision force and initiates inflation, and an inflation system comprised of a sodium azide and a potassium nitrate compartment that combine and produce a pulse of hot nitrogen gas to inflate the bag as it bursts or expands outward.2 Since the late 1990s airbags have been a mandatory component of all newly manufactured vehicles, because of the benefit an airbag brings to reducing the risk of fatality in a crash by nearly 30 percent, but there is also a concern over the safety of airbags.3
Airbag Issues
Though auto airbags are a standard safety equipment, the limitations and force behind the airbag system has been the source of concern over the safety and risks associated with passenger vehicle airbags. Research has indicated that there is a risk zone in which deployment of an airbag can actually injure a vehicle's occupant. Damage to your chest or breastbone can occur when an occupant is within the first 2 to 3 inches post the inflation zone; making the safe zone anywhere beyond 10 inches away from the airbag.4 The other major deployment concern is for small adults, women, elderly, and young children, which statistically will sustain significant injury from use of an airbag, because when the airbag is deployed these two groups cannot withstand the high force of impact and the impact often hits at a higher region of the body such as the head or neck where injury can be more traumatic.5
The other major concern regarding airbags are those with defects in their design or manufacturing. There are many types of airbags, but side impact or side curtain airbags tend to bring additional risks as is evident by the number of recalls. Two of the common airbag defects is the failure to deploy or the premature, unwarranted inflation of an airbag as seen in a low-impact crash. The extent of airbag defects has come to light as of this summer when the Takata company recalled over 30 million cars for a defect that causes the inflation canister to blow up and send metal shrapnel towards occupants within the car.6 This type of defect is just one of the ways in which an airbag designed to protect, can in fact increase the risk for injury or death.
Contact an Experienced St. Louis Personal Injury Attorney for a Free Consultation
If you have been involved in an auto accident with a defective airbag or an airbag that caused unwarranted injury, it is important to discuss the circumstances of your injury with an experienced injury attorney who can help to protect your legal rights and interests. To contact a personal injury attorney for a free consultation please feel free to call the The Bruning Law Firm trial attorneys at(314) 735-8100.
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If you or someone you care about has been seriously injured in an auto accident, contact The Bruning Law Firm today. We provide the comprehensive, professional legal representation you deserve at a time when you need it most.
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Resources:
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/question130.htm
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/airbag.htm
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/airbag2.htm
A.J. Bruning
Founder
I was born and raised to represent individuals who have been needlessly injured. I mean that literally. At a young age my father would tell me about the clients he was representing. I would meet them and take pride in their admiration of my father. I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer and represent clients that needed my help.
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