Side Airbag Defects
Side airbags are designed to protect passengers from injury in frequently occurring side impacts, and are most commonly deployed from the side of the seat itself to inflate between the door structures and the occupant. By doing this, airbag designers can minimize the potential for airbag-induced injuries while providing optimal occupant protection. Of course, there are also additional designs that involve the deployment of curtain style airbags that deploy from the roof rails downward to provide the same type of protection to vehicle occupants in side impacts. Such designs, for example, are now commonly used in minivans and SUVs to protect rear seated passengers.
Unlike the stringent regulations surrounding frontal airbags, NHTSA does not regulate the design or placement of rear airbags. Nonetheless, with the technology for such airbags being readily available, research strongly supports the use of side airbag technologies as a necessary safety feature to provide critical protection. In fact, 30% of all crashes involve a side impact, yet many vehicles today continue to be built without side airbags for side impact protection. As a result, many unnecessary head injuries and fatalities continue to occur in foreseeable side impact crashes.
In March 2004, The Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care reported that “occupants in vehicles equipped with head protecting side airbags had a 75% lower risk of head injury after near side collisions.” Yet, despite being designed with families in mind, for example, some minivan still do not provide middle row or rear seated occupants any form of head protecting airbag to address the known risk of head injuries in side impacts. This concern also extends to many passenger cars, trucks and SUVs, even though such systems have been proven to provide invaluable and necessary head protection. The failure of manufacturers to incorporate such airbags in their vehicles in the face of known risks and economically and technologically available alternatives, renders many of their vehicles unreasonably dangerous and defective and leads to needless catastrophic brain injuries and deaths.
If you suspect the lack of a side airbag to be the cause of a catastrophic brain injury or death, contact us for a free evaluation of your case. The Didier Law Firm has litigated numerous cases involving a failure to incorporate side airbags, and are here to assist you and your clients in evaluating and pursuing a product defect claim.
