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.

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.

The driver of another vehicle in an oncoming lane veered into our client’s lane, causing a head-on frontal crash. Although the crash was severe, the driver airbag did not deploy, and the driver suffered lung, heart and other chest injuries that proved fatal.

2000 Ford Taurus Airbag Failed to Deploy

 A download of the vehicle’s Restraint Control Module (the “black box”) documented the failure of the front crash sensor during the crash. My inspection of that crash sensor revealed that its wiring had been cut.  This had occurred early in the crash, right near where the crash sensor was mounted.

Airbag Sensor Cut Wire

Evidence gathered during our investigation indicated that the air bag system was programmed in a way that “shut off” the airbag if the sensor wire were cut during an accident.  In my opinion, this should never have happened.  First of all, a front airbag crash sensor should be mounted in a way that protects its wiring from being cut during a crash, since it is certainly foreseeable that the front crush zone of a car will be damaged during a frontal crash.  Second, even if the wiring gets cuts, there is no reason to shut off the entire airbag system.  Instead, the airbag control module that contains an accelerometer should still continue to function; if the airbag safety sensor within the control module detects the crash, it can still deploy the airbags.  Why deprive the consumer of the safety benefit of the airbags?

Although this was apparently fixed in later models, this particular vehicle had not been recalled to correct this problem.  There is absolutely no excuse for such a decision.  If you have a known problem, just fix it.  Why wait until more people suffer serious personal injuries or death before correcting this safety defect?

One of the most common phone calls we receive is from consumers wondering why their air bag did not deploy during a crash.  This article describes how air bag deployment thresholds are established, the kinds of crashes during which air bags should deploy, and crashes where they may not deploy.  It also provides information on several different defects that may be responsible for the air bag failing to deploy when it should deploy.

AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT THRESHOLDS

Conventional air bags are generally designed to deploy in certain frontal crashes above the thresholds selected by the manufacturer.  Unfortunately, the consumer often cannot determine the thresholds for their car, as they vary widely between manufacturers, and even vary among different models from the same manufacturer.  However, there are some general guidelines that are helpful for consumers.

Although there were some variations, most frontal air bags from the 1990s were designed to deploy in crashes above a threshold level of 14 mph into a solid concrete barrier.  At the same time, most air bag systems were also designed to never deploy in crashes below 8 mph into a solid concrete barrier.  Between these two speeds, the air bags may or may not deploy, depending on the specifics of the accident and vehicle.

Airbag Deployment Threshold

The bottom line is this: airbag should always deploy in every crash where they are likely to prevent serious personal injury or a wrongful death.  If your crash severity exceeds the car company’s thresholds, and yet your air bags did not deploy, you may well have a defect in your vehicle’s air bag system.

CRASHES WHERE THE AIR BAG SHOULD DEPLOY

Your air bags should deploy in every crash where they will help prevent your injuries.  This means that your air bag should deploy in those crashes where you would otherwise suffer injuries of the type that the air bag is designed to prevent: head, neck, and chest injuries.  For example, your frontal air bag should deploy in an accident where your head would otherwise be injured from hitting your steering wheel.  Shown here is an example of an accident vehicle in which the air bags should have deployed.

Ford Airbag Failed to Deploy

Although frontal air bags are generally not designed to deploy in side impacts or rollovers, in some cases they should deploy in those kinds of crashes.  That is because some side impacts or rollovers also cause front-to-back deceleration that causes you to move forward inside your vehicle.  One example would be if you were driving at highway speed and were hit on the side of your car: in addition to crushing in the side of the car, your car would also slow down its forward motion rapidly, which could be enough to deploy your frontal air bags.  Similarly, frontal air bags should generally not deploy in rear impacts; however, if you are hit from behind and pushed into a car in front of you, that second impact to your car’s front end may justify deployment of your air bags.

For side impact air bags, they should generally deploy on the side of the car experiencing the side impact.  Similarly, rollover “curtain” air bags should deploy when the vehicle experiences a rollover, to help prevent head and neck injuries and to reduce the risk of being ejected through an open or shattered window.
     
Examples of crashes where air bag deployment would be expected include moderate to severe crashes involving your front bumper or the front corners of your vehicle, frontal impacts to a utility or telephone pole, and under-ride impacts where the front of your car goes under the side or back of a truck.

CRASHES WHERE THE AIR BAG SHOULD NOT DEPLOY

Your air bags should not deploy in those accidents where they will not prevent your injuries.  After all, air bags can deploy at speeds of more than 200 mph, and you should not be exposed to those kinds of forces if it won’t help you.  Thus, your frontal air bags should not deploy in side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers where there is no significant deceleration from front to back.  Other examples of crashes where your frontal air bags should not generally deploy include:

• Minor frontal crashes
• Most impacts to the undercarriage of the vehicle, such as when crossing a railroad, unless they would result in serious personal injury
• Impacts with animals such as deer or dogs
• Impacts with street curbs or parking blocks
• Driving on rough roads, including those with large potholes, gravel or bumps

Of course, your air bags should never deploy when your vehicle is not in an accident.  Although this seems obvious, there are actually many cases where this has occurred, often due to poor design of the air bag system software, or due to electrical issues with the air bag system.

WHY YOUR AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY

There are several reasons why your air bag may not have deployed during a crash.  The first reason is that perhaps your crash is not the type of accident where air bag deployment would be helpful.  For frontal air bags, this includes many, but not all, side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers.  This category also includes minor accidents in which the driver and front passenger (if there was one) did not suffer any significant injuries requiring medical treatment.

The second reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the crash sensors from detecting the crash properly.  Our investigation and analysis of air bag systems in hundreds and hundreds of crashes has revealed numerous causes that fall within this category.  In some cases, the air bag deployment threshold is simply not set appropriately, often due to inadequate testing.  In other cases, a flaw in the software of the air bag control module has caused it to ignore the data from one of the crash sensors.  In still other cases, there are simply too few sensors to properly detect real-world crashes; this often results from overly zealous cost-reduction efforts by car companies that are trying to improve their finances.  In a few cases, quality control efforts have failed to prevent defective sensors or air bag control modules from reaching the public.

2002 Buick Century: Fatal Non-Deployment

The third reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the deployment signal from reaching the air bag modules and deploying them.  Here, the problem usually lies with the electrical components and wiring between the crash sensors, control module and the air bag modules.  The most frequent defect in this category that we see is when the driver air bag fails to deploy, but the passenger air bag does deploy.  In many cases, this is due to a defective clockspring located in the steering column.  Millions of defective clocksprings have been recalled, generally due to poor quality control at either the supplier’s production plant or the car company’s assembly plant.

Airbag Clockspring

Ford Airbag Sensor Cut Wire

The fourth reason is that there could be a defect that prevented the actual air bag modules from deploying correctly.  In a few cases, the crash sensors and air bag control modules have commanded deployment of the air bags, but the air bags failed to respond.  This is almost always due to defects within the air bag modules themselves, usually due to poor quality control.

Although each vehicle and each accident is different, I can help you determine whether the air bags in your car should have deployed in your accident.  As an air bag attorney, as a former air bag engineer for General Motors, and as a court-recognized air bag expert witness, I have over 20 years of experience in analyzing air bag system performance.  If your air bag system is defective and you have a case, I would be honored to pursue justice for you.

BMW has recalled 200,000 of its vehicles for a potentially deadly airbag defect.  It affects certain 2006 BMW 3 series cars (BMW 325i, BMW 325ci, and BMW 330ci), 2004 – 2006 BMW 5 series cars (BMW 525 i, BMW 530i, BMW 545i, and BMW 550i) and 2004-2006 BMW X3 vehicles, depending on the type of seat.

The affected front passenger seats use an occupant detection mat from Siemens as part of an advanced air bag system.  The airbag system uses the data from the mat to determine whether to deploy the front passenger airbags.  Unfortunately, those mats installed in the front passenger seats are vulnerable to cracking along the side of the seat as a result of frequent use.  Some of those cracks could cause a change to the electrical characteristics of the mat.  That electrical change can lead the air bag system to recognize a failure, which can then shut down the passenger air bag system.  If that happens, the passenger air bag can fail to deploy during a crash when it is needed.  According to BMW, this should not affect the head protection system.

The government opened its defect investigation in September 2007.  They upgraded it to an engineering analysis in January 2008, noting that BMW had provided 3,465 owner reports and 28,238 warranty claims.  BMW notified the government that it would conduct this recall in July of 2008.  The government’s recall number is 08V-384.

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.

Nissan has recalled over 200,000 of its 2007 and 2008 Nissan Altima, Nissan 350Z, Nissan Murano, Nissan Rogue, Infiniti G35, Infiniti G37 and Infiniti EX35 vehicles for a safety defect in their advanced air bag systems.  The safety recall stems from a manufacturing defect (out-of-spec varistor) within the Occupant Classification System (OCS) manufactured by Continental Automotive Systems.

The OCS is part of the advanced air bag system, and is intended to help the system decide whether to deploy the air bags, and if so, with how much force they should deploy.

In some situations, the defect will cause an interruption of the signal between the OCS and the airbag control unit (ACU).  When that happens, the safety flaw can prevent air bag deployment in a crash when you need it most.

The government’s recall number is 08V-521.

Chrysler has recalled more than 1.5 million 1996-1998 model year minivans sold under the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan, Dodge Grand Caravan, Plymouth Voyager, and Plymouth Grand Voyager names.  The issue arose due to defective clocksprings located in the steering column that can prevent driver airbag deployment.  A typical symptom of a defective clockspring is that the driver air bag does not deploy, even though the passenger air bag does deploy (even if there was no passenger).

Unfortunately, Chrysler refused to make clockspring replacement mandatory for all these vehicles.  Instead, they negotiated a deal with the federal government requiring replacement of the clockspring only for those minivans having less than 70,000 miles.  For those having more miles, replacement isn’t required unless the air bag warning lamp is on, and the system diagnoses a defect in the clockspring.  Unfortunately, it’s possible that your warning light is not on when you are involved in a crash, and yet the clockspring fails and prevents deployment of the driver airbag.  Thus, you may not know you have a problem until it’s too late.  This can result in devastating personal injuries or death.

To compound the problem, Chrysler did not issue this recall promptly after discovering the first defective clocksprings.  After numerous reports of problems, the government opened its formal defect investigation into this issue in August of 2000.  However, Chrysler did not issue the recall until more than two years later.  Of course, the longer it took for them to issue the recall, the less vehicles would qualify for the mandatory replacement of clocksprings for vehicles having less than 70,000 miles.

The government’s recall number is 02V-293.

Chrysler is recalling nearly a million minivans from the 1998 to 2000 model years sold as the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan, Dodge Grand Caravan, Plymouth Voyager and Plymouth Grand Voyager.  A defect inside the clockspring can cause the driver airbag to fail to deploy during a crash.  This could lead lead to serious person injuries or wrongful death from the accident.  However, Chrysler limited mandatory replacement of the clockspring only to those vehicles having 70,000 miles; owners of vehicles having more miles than that receive only an extended warranty, unless the clockspring fails.  Of course, if it fails during a crash, then it will be too late.

The government’s recall number is 04V-480.

Clocksprings are part of the driver airbag system and are located inside your steering column, under your steering wheel.  They allow the  electrical signal from a detected crash to be sent to the driver airbag, while still allowing you to turn your steering wheel during normal driving without damaging the airbag wires.  This way, the crash sensors or airbag control module can send the deployment signal to the airbag, no matter how your steering wheel is turned.  If they fail to work properly, the results can be deadly.

Recalls – Unfortunately, many clocksprings have proven to be defective.  Although millions of them have been recalled, there are still many of them on the road today.  In our experience, defective clocksprings are most commonly found in vehicles made by Chrysler, including those sold under the Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge nameplates.  Millions of the clockspring affected by these safety recall were manufactured by supplier called Methode.

Defects – There have been several common failure modes for clocksprings, each of which can prevent driver airbag deployment.  This can, and has, caused significant personal injury and wrongful death during accidents where consumers were deprived of the protection of the airbag.  Some of these defects were caused by cost-savings measures that took priority over consumers’ safety.  Others were caused by manufacturing and quality control problems.  Regardless of their cause, the result is the same: unnecessary injuries and deaths when your driver airbag fails to deploy.  An expert can help you determine whether and why your clockspring failed in your accident, and the specific defect causing the failure.