Los Angeles Exploding Airbag Accident Attorneys

Airbag Defects and Exploding Airbag Accidents

Airbags were made to save lives, and nowadays, almost all cars have at least a driver's side airbag. Some cars have as many as 20 airbags. Despite being designed to prevent injury, a small number of drivers and passengers suffer injuries caused by the airbags themselves. If an airbag deploys too early, too late, or not at all, a driver or passenger may suffer serious injuries. Airbags can also cause injuries when they deploy in low-speed crashes that would have resulted in no physical injury if the airbag had not deployed.  If you have been injured by an airbag, it is in your best interests to speak with a lawyer about your legal rights.

Exploding Airbag Accidents

Airbags are particularly dangerous to young children. Serious injuries including broken bones, head and chest injuries, decapitations and death have all been associated with exploding airbags. According to the NHTSA, 215 people died between 1990 to 2001 in low-severity crashes, when the airbag deployed when it should not have. These fatalities included 72 drivers, 111 children between the ages of 1 and 11, 22 infants, and 10 adult passengers. A small percentage of airbag injuries and deaths are caused by a defect inside the airbag, causing the airbag to overinflate, explode or rupture. In 2009, Honda recalled 440,000 vehicles due to defective airbags that killed at least one person and injured six others.

Sodium Azide Exposure

The airbag is controlled by an onboard computer (the Electronic Control Unit or ECU), which sends a signal to the inflator to deploy the airbag.  The chemical compound used to make airbags deploy in a fraction of a second is sodium azide (NaN3). The sodium azide compound is very lethal, although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has received no reports of injury from sodium azide exposure related to airbags. Consuming as little as one two-hundredth of an ounce of sodium azide can render a person comatose in a matter of minutes, causing blood pressure to plummet and the heart rate to increase rapidly. 

Airbags Don't Play the Role of Seatbelts

Airbags statistically reduce the risk of dying in a head-on collision or direct frontal crash by about 30%. Although initially marketed in the 1970's as "a convenient alternative to seatbelts," manufacturers now emphasize that airbags are not, and should not be used as an alternative to seatbelts. You should wear a seatbelt at all times, regardless of whether the vehicle you are riding in is equipped with an airbag or not.

Los Angeles Airbag Injury Attorneys

If you have been injured by an exploding airbag in a Los Angeles car accident, you should speak with an attorney. Depending on the cause of your accident, and how the airbag contributed to your injuries, you may be entitled to compensation. Airbags that fail to deploy or that deploy too late may be defective, and some airbags have even been recalled. Although airbag litigation is a complex area of personal injury law, the Los Angeles car accident attorneys have handled numerous airbag cases and have the resources to take on major automobile companies. For more information, contact the Los Angeles airbag accident lawyers at Estey & Bomberger to speak with an attorney.