All vehicles do not have side airbags.  In fact, two common defects in airbag systems are the lack of a side airbag and the installation of only a torso airbag (which may not protect your head and neck during an accident).  Some car companies make side airbags optional even in very expensive cars, even when we know that safety should never be an option.

Even if a side airbag is installed, it doesn’t always function properly.  When a side airbag doesn’t deploy during a side impact crash, the cause is often defective crash sensor placement or software algorithms in electronic sensors that don’t detect the crash severity.

These problems can stem from negligent testing programs that don’t address real-world crashes into poles and trees, even where they should have protected the consumer.

Some side airbags hang up on the seat or trim panels, causing them to deploy incompletely or improperly.  Also, a few side airbag systems were defectively designed to be so forceful they can unnecessarily inflict serious or even fatal injuries when they inflate.  Such “aggressive” side airbags are particularly dangerous for children and infants.

These defects can cause severe personal injuries, including head trauma; traumatic brain injuries (TBI); skull fractures; facial injuries; spinal cord injuries; cervical spine fractures or dislocations; paralysis (paraplegia, quadraplegia); arm and hand injuries, including traumatic amputation; chest injuries; flail chest; heart injuries; pelvic injuries; bone fractures/orthopedic injuries; as well as numerous other injuries.

In some cases, defects in your side airbags can cause wrongful death.