If your airbags did not deploy during an accident, you may still file a lawsuit. However, there may be several people that you can suit in this circumstance, so you should speak with a lawyer to find out more about your legal possibilities.
While airbags should in theory deploy in the event of an accident, this is not always the case. You might have a case if you were harmed in a car accident but your airbags did not deploy. Depending on the specifics of your accident, you might be qualified to bring a claim against the maker of the car or the airbag as well as other responsible parties. By putting all of its efforts into making your case as powerful as it can be, our law firm can assist you.
In This Article...
What occurs when an airbag doesn’t inflate?
Your head and upper body are protected from impact with the dashboard or steering wheel by airbags. You could be flung forward and sustain organ damage, face fractures, permanent scarring, or other injuries if an airbag doesn’t activate.
These devices are intended to save lives and shield users from harm in the case of a crash, however some manufacturing errors mean that they sometimes fail to work as intended, endangering users with severe physical harm. If the airbag had deployed, the sufferer may have sustained less damage or none at all, but the reality remains that they are still responsible for their medical expenses and vehicle repairs.
Steps to take when airbags fail to deploy
If you experience significant pain following an accident or suspect something is amiss, get medical help right once. Follow these instructions to safeguard your rights and hold the manufacturer responsible if your airbags failed to inflate during a collision and you don’t need to be sent to the hospital soon away.
Report the accident to police
In any case, you should call the police after a collision, but this is especially important if your airbags didn’t go off. This information will be contained in the officer’s report.
Document as much information as you can
After an automobile accident, you could feel hurried or bewildered, but you should try to write down as much of the following as you can:
Information about the collision, such as your speed, the locations of the other vehicles, and the presence or absence of stop signs
Contact a car accident lawyer in Chicago
If you were hurt in a car accident, you might be eligible to file a product liability lawsuit against the automobile or airbag manufacturer to recover damages. The best option to safeguard your rights and obtain the funds required to pay for treatment is probably through this method.
Why didn’t my airbags deploy?
Sadly, there are numerous reasons why your airbags might not have inflated following a collision. As buyers, we all hope that automakers will conduct testing and quality control procedures with care and thoroughness, but this isn’t always the case. Manufacturing errors are often to blame for failed airbag deployments. Typical causes include
When you hire our Chicago vehicle accident attorneys, we will search recall databases. Engineers and experts in vehicle and collision reconstruction will be consulted in order to determine what caused the airbag to malfunction. Finding the cause, though, is useless if you can’t back it up in court.
Proving Manufacturer Liability
In order to win a product liability case, your attorney must demonstrate a number of things. They will have to determine:
You must collect as much proof from the crash site as you can if you want your product liability claim to go without issues (see above). Additionally, you want to maintain track of your medical history and the therapies you’ve had. When determining culpability and assisting you in getting the money you require, these things will be of great use to your Chicago vehicle fault attorney.
Chicago Auto Defect Lawyers
Although they are designed to protect you in a car collision, airbags occasionally malfunction. One of the most frequent causes of airbag failure and injury, which can result in very serious injuries, is manufacturer errors.
If my airbags didn’t go off, is my automobile a total loss?
You might have heard that if your airbags deploy following a collision, your car is instantly deemed a total loss. What is the story, then? Is this a fact? No, if the airbags deploy, your car is not immediately declared a total loss.
However, that does not imply that if an insurance adjuster informs you that your car has been declared a total loss following a collision, they are lying. The majority of car accidents that are severe enough to activate the airbags produce enough damage to the involved vehicles to render them undriveable.
Can I file a lawsuit about the airbag recall?
You may have a legal claim against one or more defendants if you or a loved one was hurt as a result of a recalled airbag. A product liability claim or lawsuit is what you file to obtain compensation for injuries you sustained as a result of a faulty or unsafe product.
The automaker, the airbag producer, the dealership that sold the car, the repair shops that worked on it (possibly including the dealership and third-party service providers), and other people and organizations, depending on the particulars of the case, may be named as defendants in a defective airbag lawsuit.
To recover their losses and damages associated with the incident, both drivers and passengers who sustained injuries in a collision because of a faulty airbag may be entitled to launch a lawsuit. In a product liability lawsuit, damages may be awarded for:
- medical expenses (current and future)
- lost ability to earn
- Additional expenses resulting from the injury (e.g., renovating your home or vehicle to accommodate your accident-related disability, costs of getting to and from medical appointments, hiring help around the house, etc.)
- Funeral and burial expenses (if the faulty airbag was the cause of the death of your loved one)
- Distress and suffering
- emotional angst
- loss of group support
Additionally, you might be qualified to join a class action lawsuit if you purchased or leased a car that was the subject of an airbag recall but did not have any major injuries.
Why did my airbags not inflate after being rear-ended?
There are a few possible explanations for why the airbags in your car did not inflate during an accident. The biggest one is that the airbags would not deploy since the impact on your car was not severe enough to activate the airbag sensors.
Your car’s collision point and its location both matter. Because airbag sensors are often located in the front of a car, a rear-end collision may not prompt an airbag to activate. Your car can be ruled a total loss in this kind of incident, even though no airbags were ever deployed, depending on the kind of vehicle you have.
Rarely, a malfunction or a lack of airbags may have prevented the airbags from deploying during an accident. For instance, if you were in a previous accident and your airbags deployed, but the airbags and the sensors were not changed when the vehicle was repaired, this might also lead to a failed airbag deployment.
Even if the airbags did not deploy, you might still have been hurt and need medical attention. Accidents without the use of airbags can occasionally result in severe injuries with time-delayed symptoms. Even if the accident you were in was only minor, it is crucial that you get medical attention.
Who is accountable if airbags fail to deploy?
The automaker may be liable for any harm if an accident occurred but the airbags did not deploy. An “open and shut case” would seem to describe this circumstance. There will, however, be a list of exclusions, and in some cases, the rule of manufacturer culpability is not 100% certain. There are many possible causes for an airbag not to deploy, some of which are not the fault of the vehicle’s manufacturer.
How quickly do airbags in a collision deploy?
When a collision occurs, airbags, which are inflatable cushions installed into cars, shield the occupants from being struck by the inside of the car or by outside objects like other cars or trees.
Sensors start measuring impact force as soon as a crash occurs. If the collision is serious enough, the sensors send a signal to the inflators to quickly inflate the bags with gas.
In most cases, airbags don’t need maintenance unless they deploy during a collision. In that scenario, they must be changed at a repair facility that uses OEM replacement parts to guarantee that the brand-new airbag is genuine. Airbags that are counterfeit may not deploy or may leak metal fragments when deploying.
Front airbags
Since the 1999 model year, all vehicles, light trucks, and vans must include driver and passenger airbags for frontal crash protection, per federal law.
In moderate to severe frontal collisions, front airbags are intended to deploy to cushion the occupant’s head and chest from impacting the car’s metal frame.
Although they are made to offer protection for all passengers, they offer the best protection when passengers are buckled up and seated appropriately.
In order to determine whether to deploy the airbag in a specific crash, more recent airbags incorporate a safety belt sensor and utilize an algorithm to determine whether people are wearing safety belts.
Unbelted passengers who are involved in crashes that are the equivalent of hitting a rigid wall at 10 to 12 mph will typically have their front airbags deploy. Because seat belts alone are expected to provide adequate protection up to these modest speeds, the majority of airbags will only deploy at a higher thresholdabout 16 mphfor belted individuals.
If there is enough forward motion during the incident, front airbags may deploy to help protect people in side hits.
The steering wheel houses the driver airbag. The dashboard houses the passenger airbag.
What is the cost of fixing deployed airbags?
The make, model, and year of the vehicle, the number of airbags deployed, the location of the deployed airbags, and the parts needed to replace the unit are just a few of the variables that affect the price of replacing an airbag, according to CostHelper. The cost of your replacement can range from $1,000 to $6,000; the typical price is between $3,000 and $5,000.
If your airbags were to cause your insurer to declare your car a total loss, you might be looking at a substantially larger cost.
In an accident, should all airbags deploy?
The circumstances of the incident (such as speed, other cars involved, and impact direction), the design strategy used in the air bag system of each unique vehicle, and the positions of the crash sensors all play a role in determining whether an air bag will deploy in a collision. Air bags are not meant to deploy in every collision. In some situations, an air bag might not deploy. Here are some potential examples:
- It’s possible that the crash circumstances are mild enough that an air bag wouldn’t be necessary to protect a passenger wearing a seat belt. In such an incident, the seat belt might be sufficient to prevent head or chest injuries.
- When a vehicle detects a small-stature passenger or child, a child in a child restraint system, or no person in the right front passenger seat, many modern frontal air bag systems immediately deactivate the passenger air bag.
- When a passenger or youngster in the right front passenger seat is too close to the side air bag, some cutting-edge side air bag systems will similarly turn off the passenger side air bag system.
Can I take a car company to court over a recall?
You have the option of a repair, replacement, or refund if your car is recalled. A prompt repair must be offered by the automaker. Sometimes, the necessary parts are not always readily hand to carry out repairs right away. Additionally, the automaker must either replace the vehicle or refund the vehicle’s worth less depreciation if the vehicle is the subject of a total recall. These rights are in addition to any that might be provided for by state common law or statutory legislation in the case of defective manufacturing, a flaw in the design, or a breach of the warranty of merchantability.
Can I Sue For A Recall?
In many situations, you can file a lawsuit to force a recall. Because a recall is conclusive evidence that a vehicle was defective, it may serve as the basis for a lawsuit. The injury that results from a recall determines the claim’s worth. If a defect that results in a recall causes you harm, you may be able to pursue compensation.
You may also bring a claim for the vehicle’s diminished worth. All recalled-vehicle owners are entitled to repairs, replacements, and refunds.