Depending on the circumstances of the accident, you may be able to target multiple parties in an airbag injury lawsuit.
Over the past few months, airbag injuries have gained a lot of attention as seven major automakers issued airbag recalls affecting more than a million vehicles.
Airbags are of course intended as a safety feature, but they can actually cause injuries under certain circumstances. Faulty airbags that fail to deploy, deploy inappropriately, or malfunction during deployment are certainly a problem. The most recent recall revolves around defective Takata Corp. airbags, which have faulty inflators that can rupture under hot and humid conditions. Then, when the airbag deploys, shards of metal and plastic may also fly out, causing serious lacerations and injuries.
Even properly functioning airbags have the potential to cause injury, especially to individuals who do not have the average height and build that the airbags are designed for. In a 2007 study, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University found that individuals over 6’3” had a 5 percent greater risk of serious injury from normal airbag deployment, while individuals under 4’11” had a 4 percent greater risk. Side airbags have also been shown to be dangerous to children by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which concluded that in the majority of cases, low-speed crashes that should have resulted in minor injuries to the children involved turned serious precisely because of contact with the airbags.
If you or a loved one has been injured by an airbag, you may have the ability to seek compensation with a personal injury lawsuit. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, your lawsuit may target:
Individuals: If your accident was caused by the reckless or negligent behavior of another driver (or, for that matter, by a pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist), that person should be liable for all your injuries, including injuries sustained by the normal operation of an airbag in your vehicle.
Automakers: The automaker may be liable for your injuries if their errors resulted in the faulty operation of the airbag. For example, maybe the airbag was not properly installed, maybe the vehicle lacked proper advisories regarding airbag deployment, or maybe the company knew the airbag to be faulty but continued to install them anyway.
Manufacturers: In the case of defective airbag design, there would also be potential to target the airbag manufacturer. This claim would be made under strict liability law so that you would not have to worry about proving negligence.
If you would like a professional opinion as to the amount you may be able to recover for your airbag injuries via an auto accident claim, please contact the Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas today for a free consultation.
