The Airbag Blog » Failure to Deploy

Honda Accord Safety Recall Caused by Defective Air Bags

Taras Rudnitsky — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:00:52 +0000

Honda is recalling 347 certan model year 2012 Honda Accord and Honda Crosstour vehicles. The driver-side or passenger-side side curtain airbag inflator may not have been manufactured according to correct specifications. In the event of a crash, the side curtain airbag may fail to deploy, increasing the risk of injury. The safety recall is expected to begin on or about February 10, 2012. 12V-030.

Kia Airbag Recall: Defect Prevents Airbag Deployment

Taras Rudnitsky — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:50:20 +0000

Kia Motors America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling 145,755 model year 2006-2008 Kia Optima vehicles manufactured from September 29, 2005, through January 29, 2008, and model year 2007 and 2008 Kia Rondo vehicles manufactured from September 13, 2006, through March 21, 2008. The clock spring contact assembly for the driver’s side air bag supplemental restraint system (SRS) may become damaged through usage over time. If the clock spring contact assembly becomes damaged, the driver’s air bag electrical circuit will experience a high resistance condition potentially causing the driver’s air bag to not deploy. If the clock spring develops high resistance, in the event of a crash, the driver’s air bag will not deploy and will not be able to properly protect the driver, increasing the risk of injuries. The safety recall is expected to begin during March 2012. 12V-014.

Buick Century Air Bag Failed to Deploy Causing Driver Death

Taras Rudnitsky — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:45:16 +0000

Our clients’ mother was driving her 2003 Buick Century when for unknown reasons, her car veered off the road. The front of the Buick Century struck a steel culvert head-on with such force that the entire car flipped over onto its roof.

2003 Buick Century Air Bag Failure in Frontal Crash

Despite the severity of the crash, the driver’s air bag failed to deploy. As a result, her face hit the steering wheel, causing extensive facial fractures. After many weeks of hospitalization, she succumbed to her injuries and passed away.

Upon being retained, we promptly investigated this accident and the design of its air bag system. Our investigation revealed that the 2003 Buick Century air bag system contained several design defects. For example, it failed to include any crash sensors in the front of the car. Our investigation also revealed that many of these defects are also present in other General Motors cars.

Chrysler Minivan Airbag Fails to Deploy, Killing Driver

Taras Rudnitsky — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:38:36 +0000

Our clients’ mother was driving her 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager when she was hit head on by another vehicle that crossed the centerline. Even though she was properly wearing her seatbelt, the driver airbag in her 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager failed to deploy, leading to fatal injuries. However, the passenger airbag deployed even though there was no passenger. During our investigation, we discovered that the Chrysler minivan contained a faulty clockspring, a device that is underneath the driver air bag in the steering wheel. This defect directly caused the driver air bag to fail to deploy in the accident. Our detailed investigation and our experience allowed us to utilize several different legal approaches to obtain a measure of justice for the family of the victim. Unfortunately for consumers, many other Chrysler models also contain defective clocksprings that may not be discovered until it is too late.

Volvo Air Bag Defect May Prevent Deployment

Taras Rudnitsky — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:28:58 +0000

Volvo is recalling 9,746 model year 2010-2011 Volvo S80, Volvo XC70, model year 2011 Volvo XC60 and model year 2010 Volvo V70 vehicles. There may be an intermittent fault in the driver’s airbag clockspring wiring connector for the supplemental restraint system. In the event of a crash, the driver’s frontal airbag may not deploy as intended or at all, and therefore will not be able to properly protect the driver, increasing the risk of injuries. The recall is expected to begin on or before October 29, 2010. 10V-489.

Infiniti Airbag Fails to Deploy in Government Crash Test

Taras Rudnitsky — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:33:03 +0000

During a crash test conducted for the federal government, the passenger air bag in a 2008 Infiniti EX35 failed to deploy, even though it was designed to deploy. That test was conducted as part of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which is used to determine the “star” rating of a new vehicle. Even though the vehicle was crashed into the barrier at 35 mph, the passenger air bag did not deploy to protect the passenger, but instead stayed hidden in its compartment. Here is a photo of the passenger and dash area after the test:

2008 Infiniti EX35 post crash test photo with no airbag deployment

The footage of this air bag failure makes it clear that the passenger air bag does not deploy, and that the seat belt allowed the passenger’s head to apparently contact the dash. According to the abstract of the crash test report, representatives of the manufacturer [Infiniti models are actually designed and/or made by Nissan] determined that there was a problem with the Airbag Control Unit in the vehicle which prevented deployment of the passenger air bag. As a result of the failure of the air bag to deploy, the passenger’s Head Injury Criterion (HIC) was well above the threshold of 1,000. Here is the abstract from the crash test report summarizing this information:

2008 Infiniti crash test report abstract

Driver Killed When Chrysler Airbag Fails to Deploy

Taras Rudnitsky — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:14:52 +0000

Our client was the driver of a Dodge Grand Caravan, one of the Chrysler minivans; other related minivans are the Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager / Grand Voyager and Chrysler Town & Country. Although he was involved in a severe frontal accident, his driver air bag failed to deploy and his seat belt unlatched during the accident, causing him to suffer fatal injuries. The passenger air bag did deploy, even though there was no passenger. This combination is one of the typical symptoms of a clockspring defect.

Our investigation revealed that the clockspring, located under the driver air bag and steering wheel, was defective. Although it was included as part of a safety recall, Chrysler never sent the recall notice to our client. In fact, Chrysler has previously sent out as many as ten recall notices, but in this case sent out only one. This means that if the vehicle was ever sold, or the owner moved, after that sole recall notice went out, the notice may never have reached the current owner.

Chrysler admitted that this same defect may have existed in about a million-and-a-half Chrysler minivans (Dodge Caravan, Dodge Grand Caravan, Plymouth Voyager, Plymouth Grand Voyager, and Chrysler Town & Country) from the 1996 to the 1998 model years. We also discovered that clockspring defects affected numerous other Chrysler models, including those from more recent model years.

Land Rover Airbag Defect: Fails to Deploy

Taras Rudnitsky — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:41:35 +0000

Land Rover is recalling 37,142 model year 2005-2006 Land Rover LR3 and Land Rover Range Rover Sport vehicles. Relative motion between the steering wheel hub and/or the steering column cowl with the clockspring, which includes the driver side air bag circuitry, could result in fracturing of the air bag wiring connection.

If an air bag wire fractures, the SRS warning light will illuminate on the instrument cluster. The SRS warning light indicates to the driver that there is a concern with the SRS system in the vehicle and that immediate repair is necessary. If the SRS warning light is ignored and a vehicle crash of sufficient severity to command deployment of the driver’s air bag occurs, the air bag module may not deploy in the intended manner.

The condition may result in the deployment of only one stage of the dual stage driver’s air bag or the air bag may not deploy at all increasing the risk of serious injuries to the driver. The recall is expected to begin on or about July 21, 2008. 08V-248.

Hyundai Airbag Fails to Deploy Defect-Safety Recall

Taras Rudnitsky — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:21:10 +0000

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.

Dodge Airbag – Failed to Deploy

Taras Rudnitsky — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:47:03 +0000

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.