Nissan is recalling 190,000 model year 1994 and early 1995 Nissan Altima vehicles following reports that passenger air bag deployments in these vehicles had caused a number of moderate-to-severe eye injuries. Some of these people suffered blindness. The airbag originally installed by Nissan lacked a tether inside the passenger airbag.
Nissan has developed a new passenger air bag that is less powerful when it inflates in a crash to reduce the risk of air bag inflation-related injuries. Nissan expects that this new air bag can help reduce the risk of air bag inflation-related injuries. Nissan will replace the passenger air bag at no charge to the consumer. The manufacturer has reported that owner notification began April 28, 2003. 03V-150.
Hyundai is recalling 150,954 model year 2001 Hyundai Elantra vehicles. If a liquid is spilled in the area of the cupholder on the center console, it may seep through the console opening for the parking brake lever and then drip onto the air bag control module electrical connector. The spilled liquid may contaminate the air bag control module and its electrical connector to the air bag wiring harness and cause the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS or airbag) warning light to illuminate.
This condition may affect the driver and passenger frontal air bags or the driver and front passenger seat mounted side impact air bags and may prevent air bag deployment during a crash where such deployment should occur. Non-deployment of the SRS air bags may increase the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger under certain crash conditions. The recall is expected to begin during the fourth quarter of 2008, and will be sent out in six mailings. 08V-532.
Chrysler is recalling 4,336 model year 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander and Jeep Wrangler vehicles. Wiring may be reversed on the steering column control module driver airbag squib connector. (The squib is the component within the air bag inflator that begins the deployment process.) The driver’s airbag may not deploy as intended. In the event of a crash, the driver’s airbag will not deploy and will not be able to properly protect an occupant, increasing the risk of injuries.
On February 25, 2009 a defective Steering Column Control Module (SCCM) was found at a Chrysler instrument panel supplier. Analysis determined that wiring was reversed on the driver air bag squib connector. Investigation determined that the SCCM supplier manufacturing process locates the driver air bag squib wires into a fixture by hand and a vision system checks for correct wire color and position prior to soldering. It was also determined that if the fixture is in program mode, the squib wires can be soldered even if not correctly positioned.
The affected vehicles all utilize multi-stage driver airbags, and reversed squib wires may result in improper driver air bag deployment performance as the inflator stages fire in reverse order.
This condition is not detectable by vehicle on-board diagnostics, and no malfunction indicator lamp will illuminate. This means that your air bag warning lamp will NOT be on, even though you may have the defective components.
The component was supplied by TRW Automotive Electronics Group.
The recall is expected to begin during May 2009. 09V-118.
Our client was driving a 1997 Dodge Intrepid in Florida when it was involved in an offset frontal collision. Despite the head-on crash, the airbags failed to deploy. This caused the driver to suffer multiple, severe blunt force trauma injuries. These injuries, resulting from the air bag not deploying, included traumatic brain injury (TBI), chest injuries and internal injuries. Tragically, these injuries resulted in a wrongful death.
Dodge Airbag Failed to Deploy
Our investigation revealed that the front airbag crash sensors used by Chrysler in this 1997 Dodge Intrepid were enclosed inside a plastic shell, instead of a steel casing. This caused the crash sensor to be severely damaged early during the crash, before it could send the deployment signal to the airbag. Also, the vehicle’s structure was designed in such a way that that many crashes outside the vehicle’s frame rails (such as when two cars collide head-on but don’t perfectly overlap) would not trigger those sensors.
Our client was a properly seat-belted passenger in a 1997 Toyota Camry that was struck by another car that turned into her path. Despite the modest crash speed, the air bags deployed. The deploying passenger air bag slammed into the passenger’s face, causing significant facial injuries and permanently blinding her.
I used independent experts to test the Camry passenger air bag. That testing documented that the air bag generally deployed at speeds approaching 250 mph. However, quality control issues could raise the deployment speed to over 400 mph! These speeds are well over the industry standard for limiting the risk of eye injuries from deploying air bags.
Toyota Camry Airbag Hitting Passenger Face
In fact, the evidence demonstrated that the danger zone for this air bag extended over two-and-a-half feet from the dash. Thus, even normally seated and properly seat belted passengers were at risk of being blinded by the Camry air bag. Our analysis of the crash test data also revealed that the air bag sensors could cause a late deployment, which could worsen injuries to the driver or passenger.
Chrysler is recalling 4,336 model year 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander and Jeep Wrangler vehicles. Wiring may be reversed on the steering column control module driver airbag squib connector. (The squib is the component within the air bag inflator that begins the deployment process.) The driver’s airbag may not deploy as intended. In the event of a crash, the driver’s airbag will not deploy and will not be able to properly protect an occupant, increasing the risk of injuries.
On February 25, 2009 a defective Steering Column Control Module (SCCM) was found at a Chrysler instrument panel supplier. Analysis determined that wiring was reversed on the driver air bag squib connector. Investigation determined that the SCCM supplier manufacturing process locates the driver air bag squib wires into a fixture by hand and a vision system checks for correct wire color and position prior to soldering. It was also determined that if the fixture is in program mode, the squib wires can be soldered even if not correctly positioned.
The affected vehicles all utilize multi-stage driver airbags, and reversed squib wires may result in improper driver air bag deployment performance as the inflator stages fire in reverse order. This condition is not detectable by vehicle on-board diagnostics, and no malfunction indicator lamp will illuminate. The component was supplied by TRW Automotive Electronics Group. The recall is expected to begin during May 2009. 09V-118.
This recall illustrates two main problems with airbag recalls. First, the quality control can sometimes be lacking, and allows defective components to slip through the production system and into unsuspecting consumers’ hands. Second, the airbag warning lamp does not detect all defects, including this one. This means you may not know that you have a defective airbag until it’s too late and you’re involved in a crash where you needed your airbag.
The driver of a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck was involved in a single-vehicle accident. The front of the Dodge pickup struck a large tree, causing significant damage to the vehicle.
Dodge Pickup Airbag Failure
However, the driver airbag failed to deploy. As a result of the airbag non-deployment, the driver suffered fatal blunt chest trauma injuries.
Our investigation also revealed that Chrysler had received hundreds and hundreds of complaints from other consumers indicating that the airbags had failed to deploy in their pickup trucks too. This case focused on the lack of an air bag sensor at the front of the pickup, even though previous models of the pickup had used such a front sensor. Our research also revealed that the Dodge pickup truck’s existing sensor was not calibrated properly for the vehicle’s structure, allowing it to be “fooled” especially in crashes involving trees and utility poles.
Another vehicle pulled out of a side street directly into the path of our client’s 2005 Ford Taurus. The resulting accident caused the driver air bag in the Taurus to deploy, inducing significant injuries to the neck, face and eye, including facial bone fractures, nasal fractures, cervical spine injuries, diplopia, and other facial trauma.
According to the data from the black box (Restraints Control Module), the driver seat belt was buckled, but there was a fault within the driver seat belt pretensioner at the time of the collision. Our investigation also revealed a concern regarding whether the air bag should have deployed at all. Furthermore, the evidence indicated that the driver air bag deployed at a higher force level than it should have, and that the actual deployment time was later than it should have been.
