In one of our cases, our client’s 2002 Buick Century struck another vehicle.  Despite the significant damage to the Buick Century’s front end, the airbags failed to deploy, causing devastating head and spinal cord injuries that resulted in the driver’s wrongful death.  We then initiated an investigation to determine why the airbag did not deploy, and found several explanations.

First, the airbag system failed to include a front end crush-zone sensor, even though earlier models had used such a sensor.  General Motors had apparently considered the use of such an airbag sensor, judging by the screw holes for the sensor that were in the radiator tie bar and the indentation in the plastic cover panel that was made to accommodate the sensor.  However, the front safety sensor was not included within the cars sold to the public by Buick.

Second, this Buick Century was part of GM’s “W” car platform.  Other cars on that same platform included the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo.  Interestingly, the Chevrolet versions of GM’s “W” cars used an electronic front airbag sensor, even though the Buick version did not.  We never received a satisfactory explanation from General Motors as to why the Buick lacked the front air bag sensor, even though the Chevrolet versions used them.

Incidentally, the air bag ”black box” (which GM calls the SDM, short for Sensing and Diagnostic Module) was helpful to proving our case.  It demonstrated that the driver was indeed wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident.  It also showed that the crash severity was in the range where airbag deployment would have been expected.