When you drive your car on a daily basis, whether it’s to work, school, or an event, you never think about whether or not your airbag will work safely in the event of an accident. Not only do you expect to make it through each drive without getting into a collision, but you also naturally expect that your airbag will deploy properly if it needs to. Unfortunately, airbags don’t always work how they should. Individuals whose airbags failed to deploy and protect them in a car accident have suffered more catastrophic injuries that include spinal injuries, internal organ damage, skull fractures, and death. If your airbag didn’t deploy in an accident, you may have two personal injury claims: one against the manufacturer of the airbag, and one against the negligent driver who caused the accident.
Are Airbags Supposed to Deploy in All Accidents?
Frontal airbags have been installed in all passenger vehicles since the late 1990’s, and some vehicles are equipped with side airbags. While they’re designed to deploy in accidents to help reduce injuries, there are a few situations in which airbags should not deploy.
Your airbag is not designed to deploy in the following accidents:
- T-bone and rollover collisions
- Accidents involving hitting animals
- Collisions involving hitting a curb, sign, or parking block
- Minor frontal accidents
- Hitting potholes or bumps on roads
Types of Airbags Claims
When your airbag is defective, you may have a product liability claim. These claims usually fall into one of three main categories.
Design Defects
This occurs when an airbag’s design is what causes it to be defective. One example of a design defect is the Takata airbags that would deploy when they should not.
Manufacturing Defects
While the design of a product may be safe, sometimes the manufacturers fail to adhere to specifications, creating a dangerous or defective product.
Marketing Defects
A marketing defect involves airbags not being labeled properly or given proper safety warning instructions.
Trust Us to Alleviate Your Pain
After a car accident, you may experience an increase in expenses as a result of your injuries. Depending on how serious your injuries are, you may have a stack of medical bills, including bills for any needed surgeries or hospital stays, property damage, and lost wages from missing work. Our car accident attorneys at Christian & Christian understand that your financial burdens may place additional weight on you that you don’t need, especially when you’re trying to recover. We use our years of experience in personal injury law to help clients seek the compensation they deserve. Let us help you prepare for a better future.
Contact Christian & Christian online, or call (864) 408-8883 if you’ve been injured in a car accident. Our attorneys have more than 100 years of combined experience that we use to seek maximum compensation for our injured clients. We strive to ease your burdens financially and emotionally after you’ve suffered at the hands of a negligent party.