Separately, your vehicle’s sun visors and airbags might seem harmless. But the combination of deploying airbags and in-use sun visors can have dangerous consequences, including possible blindness.

Here’s an actual incident that explains why:

A young man was driving a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse in a rural area. Because of the setting sun, his passenger had her sun visor down to shield her eyes.

As the car turned slowly into a Little League parking lot, its left front wheel struck a small post in the center of the driveway that was obscured by dust kicked up by other cars. Despite the low speed and the lack of any damage to the front bumper or front end, the airbags deployed.

As the passenger airbag deployed, it slammed into the passenger’s sun visor (sun shade), smashing it apart and sending pieces flying. As a result, our client was hit in the face and blinded in one eye.

The force from the deploying airbag was so strong it ripped a jagged metal insert from inside the sun visor through the visor’s plastic shell. The force was also strong enough to shatter the vanity mirror that was part of the sun visor.

What Our Airbag Tests Revealed

During our 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse testing at an independent airbag test facility, we used real-time video cameras and sophisticated high-speed cameras. This testing video allowed us to capture the passenger airbag/sun visor interaction and clearly document how an airbag rips the sun visor off its attachments.

In every one of our tests, the passenger airbag smashed into the sun visor, ripped it off its attachments, and sent pieces flying through the cabin of the car, where it could pose a danger to the passengers.

Although this accident and our testing involved a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, other cars present similar risks. For example, our investigation revealed the following vehicles sold in the United States all use the same or substantially similar passenger airbags and passenger sun visors as the ones we tested:

• 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse
• 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder
• 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Dodge Stratus
• 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Chrysler Sebring

Although other cars may use different airbags or different sun visors, you aren’t necessarily free from danger. For example, some vehicles may also have a passenger airbag that deploys upward, along the windshield, and that can strike a sun visor that is being used. At the same time, some other vehicles may have sun visors that are not specifically designed to stay together after being hit by an airbag.

While all new vehicles sold today must have frontal airbags, many also have rollover airbags designed to protect you during rollover accidents. Unfortunately, these airbags don’t always perform properly.

The most frequent criticism of rollover airbags is their failure to deploy. This is often happens when an airbag system doesn’t have a rollover sensor.

Failure to equip a vehicle with a rollover airbag can itself be a defect. This is particularly true for vehicles with a higher risk of rolling over, such as sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and vans.

Unfortunately, some people are told their vehicles have side curtain airbags or see the “airbag” logo on the interior trim, without realizing not all of those curtain airbags will deploy in a rollover accident.

Keep in mind, salespeople at dealerships may tell customers side impact airbags will deploy in rollover crashes, even when it is not true. That kind of statement can cause the salespeople and the dealer to be held responsible for misrepresentation or fraud when the airbags don’t deploy in a rollover accident. This remains true even if the car company is at fault for failing to install a rollover airbag.

In addition to crash safety sensors, other defects include rollover airbags that “catch” on a piece of plastic trim, causing them to fail to deploy completely or properly. Some rollover airbags also include “pockets” that are not well-pressurized, allowing you to suffer severe head injuries in those locations.

In some cases, rollover airbags failed to deploy because internal components came apart during the rollover, causing the inflation gas to escape rather than inflate the airbag. This can result in you being partially or completely ejected, or being injured from hitting the inside of your car.

3 Questions to Ask Before Determining if an Airbag Caused Injury or Wrongful Death

Although airbags are intended as a safety device, government documentation confirms they have caused significant trauma during vehicle accidents and are responsible for hundreds of wrongful deaths.

This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, given airbags deploy at speeds sometimes exceeding 200 mph. After experiencing an airbag deployment, many consumers say the airbag appeared to explode and compare the sound to a shotgun blast.

When questioning an airbag’s performance during a vehicle accident, you should analyze 3 critical questions before determining its role in contributing to serious injuries or wrongful death.

Question #1: Should the airbag have deployed?

Deployment depends on many factors, including your type of airbag. If it did not deploy and should have, you may have a “failure to deploy” or “non-deployment” case. In such a situation, the airbag would have deployed if the airbag crash sensor or other components had not failed.

One reason for deployment failure is a crash sensor malfunction due to faulty wiring that connects the crash sensor to the electronic control unit. Sometimes airbags don’t deploy because the car company did not conduct adequate crash tests when designing the airbag crash sensor.

In fact, many airbag systems sold to consumers were never tested in car-to-car crash tests, even though such crashes occur every day.

If the passenger airbag deployed, but the driver airbag did not deploy, the vehicle may contain a defective “clockspring” or coil. This electrical device installed in the steering column beneath the driver airbag transmits an electrical current to deploy the driver airbag. Reasons for a malfunction include design defects, inadequate testing, improper installation and improper adjustment.

In some cases, a passenger airbag will not deploy even though the driver airbag deployed and a passenger was sitting in the seat. This often occurs when a passenger presence detection sensor doesn’t work properly.

If the airbag deployed, but should not have deployed, you may have an “inadvertent” or unwarranted low-speed deployment. These can occur because of airbag sensor or other electrical defects.

Unfortunately, some manufacturers used inappropriate sensor combinations that are overly susceptible to low-speed, localized impacts, such as a vehicle striking a pothole or curb. Other sensor systems fail to detect crashes into a pole or tree. This may be the result of not having enough crash sensors due to excessive cost-cutting at the car companies.

Question #2: Did the airbag deploy late?

When an airbag opens late, impact occurs at a closer range. The extreme force can cause catastrophic injuries, even though late deployments often occur in minor accidents.

Late deployments can often be prevented using additional sensors and/or changes to the algorithms of electronic sensors. In some cases, the vehicle’s “black box” can confirm a late deployment took place.

Question #3: Did the airbag have specific crash safety features?

Crash safety features are added to airbags to reduce the risk of injury during deployment. These include items such as airbag inflators that inflate less forcefully, tethers that significantly reduce “bag slap” injuries, and vents that decrease pressure inside the airbag.

An investigation into these features is necessary to determine if manufacturing defects and quality control problems caused or contributed to your injuries.

In addition to crash safety features, the airbag system must also work together with the other parts of the car. For example, airbag crash sensors depend on the vehicle having a good structure or frame so the signal is received soon enough to avoid a late deployment.

Also, the instrument panel (I/P) or “dash” needs to be designed so that the knees and legs are not injured, while keeping the body properly positioned. And, when the airbag deploys, it must not create additional hazards for other components. For example, some passenger airbags are known to shatter the dash and send the pieces flying toward the passenger at high speeds.

You should get answers to these questions for any potentially defective front, side, curtain or rollover airbags. You deserve a safe and effective airbag during any type of a crash.