Airbags are there to protect you in the event of a car accident. If they don’t deploy properly when needed, however, you could sustain life-changing injuries due to no fault of your own. While your health insurance may cover your medical expenses, your life could have been forever altered by the accident. If another party, such as the manufacturer of the airbags, was responsible, you may be eligible for compensation from them via a lawsuit.
Who Is Liable if Airbags Fail To Deploy?
Depending on the details of the crash and what caused the airbag failure the possible manufacturing entities that could be at fault would be the following:
- Airbag manufacturer
- Airbag installer
- Airbag sensor manufacturer
- Vehicle manufacturer
- Dealership that sold the car
- Auto repair shop that repaired the car
Who Is Qualified To Sue if Airbags Don’t Deploy?
If you were involved in a car accident, whether as the driver or the passenger, and the airbags in your vehicle didn’t deploy as they should have, you could be eligible to sue the responsible party. Depending on your situation, the liable party could be the manufacturer, the dealership, the installer, or someone else. You’ll need to show who is responsible for the failed airbags in order to prove that you have the right to compensation from them. That’s where Farah & Farah can help you.
What Would Disqualify You From Filing an Airbags Lawsuit?
If the airbags were functioning correctly even if they didn’t deploy, there might not be a case for a lawsuit. Airbags are programmed to not deploy unless the vehicle is going a certain speed upon impact. Any collision that occurred while the vehicle was going under 12-16 mph would not qualify for a lawsuit because the airbags should not have deployed in that situation.
Proving the Right to Compensation
At a minimum, the injured party must be able to prove the following:
- The airbags did not deploy when they should have
- The airbag or airbag sensor had a defect or was not properly installed
- You suffered injuries that were caused and/or exacerbated by the lack of airbag deployment
- You suffered financial, physical, and/or emotional injuries
Farah & Farah’s car accident attorneys have years of experience in advocating for our clients and supporting them through the most difficult times of their lives. We work together as a team to provide each and every one of our clients with the best service and put our combined expertise and resources to work on your behalf.
Making a Personal Injury Claim
If a manufacturer is the one being held liable in the lawsuit then there would be a personal injury claim done. This type of claim is done to gain compensation for any emotional, physical, or financial suffering. In the case of the airbags not deploying, the claim would be based on one of the two following legal theories:
Negligence
Establishing negligence begins by determining whether the airbag was not inserted correctly, or not repaired correctly. Anything that happened to the airbag where the failure to deploy could have been prevented by something the manufacturers did not do.
Strict Liability
Establishing strict liability involves proving that the injuries sustained were the direct result of the manufacturer’s airbags not deploying. If strict liability is established, then the airbag manufacturer could be held liable without needing to prove negligence simply because the airbag didn’t perform as it should have.
What Causes an Airbag To Fail?
If an airbag does not deploy upon impact then there was most likely a defect that occurred in the following stages of the airbag being made and installed:
Design Issues
A fault in the design of the airbag could cause it to fail to deploy properly even if it was manufactured and installed perfectly.
Manufacturing Defects
A problem could occur during the manufacturing of the airbag that rendered it defective.
Improper Installation
Airbags must be installed properly in order to deploy when they are needed. If someone didn’t install the airbag correctly, then it might not work as it should in an accident.
Defective Sensors
A defective sensor in the car could fail to signal that an impact was strong enough for the airbag to deploy.
Improper Repair
If after a previous accident, the airbag didn’t get replaced or was improperly replaced during the repair process, it could fail to work correctly when needed later.
What Can Happen When an Airbag Doesn't Deploy?
The injuries that occur from an airbag not deploying during a collision can be life-threatening and life-altering. This is because the nature of the airbag is to prevent the upper body from slamming into the steering wheel and other immovable parts of the car. Therefore, the following injuries occur from the lack of this cushion, and are the kind that may never be truly healed:
- Brain damage
- Head lacerations
- Internal bleeding
- Facial injuries
- Head trauma
What To Do If You Want To File a Defective Airbags Lawsuit
If you are in a car accident and the airbags fail to deploy, you should take the following steps to preserve as much evidence as you can if you aren’t too injured to do so. However, it is important to hire an attorney to help ensure the collection of such evidence as quickly as possible if you were unable to collect it yourself. Eyewitnesses may have details and photographs that could help your case.
- Inform the police so the airbag failure can be included in the police report
- Take photos and videos of the scene of the accident
- Write down as many details as possible about the accident
- Get the contact information for any witnesses to the accident
- Save any medical records from injuries sustained in the accident
Statute of Limitations
It’s important to consult with a lawyer as soon as you can because the statute of limitations will limit the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit. In Florida and in Georgia, this time period is 2 years from the date of the accident.
Consult With a Lawyer
Farah & Farah’s attorneys have decades of experience with auto manufacturers in court and many on our team specialize in auto accidents in Jacksonville and throughout Florida as well as product liability. We want to see you get the compensation you deserve. If you are unsure whether your case is worth pursuing, Farah &Farah offers free case reviews where the next steps can be explored and better understood. You won’t owe anything unless your case is successful.
