Some of the greatest safety inventions of the last quarter century have been front and side air bags in vehicles. Undoubtedly, these amazing safety features have saved countless lives throughout the United States. Unfortunately, when major auto manufacturers emphasize speed of production over quality, this crucial safety device can become incredibly dangerous. History shows that air bag defects pose the greatest risk of danger to smaller people, particularly children. According to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, of the 242 confirmed air bag fatalities in 2003, 148 or 61% were children.
Some of the most prominent air bag defects are:
1) Failing to properly crash test airbags with a wide range of dummy types whereby certain individuals (smaller or larger than average) are not protected by the airbag and can even be more severely injured by the airbag in their vehicle than if they didn’t have one at all.
2) Overly powerful inflators leading to airbag forces that inflict as much damage to the occupant of the vehicle as striking the windshield or dashboard would.
3) Dangerous airbag “paths” leading to airbags that fire directly toward the occupant instead of in an upward trajectory that limits head, neck and facial injuries.
4) Faulty crash sensors that lead to inadvertent airbag deployments which actually cause accidents and injury instead of protecting from them or airbags that deploy too late to actually protect the occupant from injury.
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If you or someone you love has been injured or killed as the result of a defective airbag deployment (or lack thereof), please contact us at Aschraft & Gerel, LLP. Our skilled team of auto product litigation attorneys have taken on some of the nation’s leading automotive product companies. Our attorneys are members of national automotive product litigation groups, staying on the cutting edge of this ever changing legal landscape throughout every jurisdiction in the United States. As one of the nation’s largest plaintiff-only firms, we also have the resources to hire the best experts available to help ensure we give you nothing but the best legal service. To contact us, you can either call us at (866) 709-0505or fill out an online form.
