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.

Question #1: Do you focus on airbag defect cases?

While there is no shortage of lawyers who accept any kind of accident and injury case, there are few whose primary focus is airbag defects. Ask the lawyer how many airbag defect cases he’s investigated and filed. Also, request a list of representative airbag cases and ask which ones involve issues similar to your case.

Question #2: Do you have direct experience in the automotive industry?

The answer to this question is a big factor in separating the lawyers who represent airbag defect victims and those who take cases without having any real industry knowledge. A lawyer with automotive industry experience will know …

• How the decisions are made on what design is used
• What testing and analysis is usually conducted on their products
• Who are the key personnel conducting the research and analysis
• What documents should have been generated during the design and development process
• What documents will be most helpful for your case
• How internal investigations are handled

Question #3: Do you have an engineering background?

The technical nature of airbag defect cases requires lawyers to understand input from engineering experts in subjects such as accident reconstruction, design analysis, testing and biomechanics. Those who understand engineering can ask intelligent questions about the strengths and weaknesses of your case. Better yet is an attorney who has had “hands-on” responsibility for airbag engineering, and who has been dealing with airbags for many years. Questions from an attorney with a background in airbags will also give you the best possible chance of proving your case.

Question #4: Will you work on my airbag defect case, or will you delegate the work to junior lawyers and associates?

Why should your case serve as a training ground for an inexperienced junior lawyer or paralegal? Due to the reasons stated above, you need an experienced airbag lawyer handling your case.

Question #5: Will you be available when I need you?

Whether it’s normal business hours or not, you want your questions and concerns addressed immediately. So hire an airbag lawyer who is available during evenings and weekends – and willing to meet at a time and place that is convenient for you.

Also, don’t hesitate to request your lawyer’s cell phone number. An attorney who truly accommodates you will give you the number without hesitation.

Question #6: How much does it cost to hire you?

An airbag defect attorney should never make you pay an up-front fee just to consult with you. In addition, you should never pay attorney fees or any investigation costs until compensation is recovered for your injuries.

Also, be careful with attorneys who “nickel and dime” you for typical office expenses such as ordinary mail, copies, telephone or fax charges.

Question #7 (Ask yourself this final question.): Do you trust the lawyer?

Rely on your instincts. If you can’t trust the lawyer, don’t hire him.

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.

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.

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.

Although the process leading to airbag deployment has become more technical over the years, the airbag safety sensors’ job has remained the same.

In earlier vehicles, these airbag sensors were basic switches that responded to changes in velocity as the vehicle slowed down during the crash. Once two sensors “closed” to confirm a crash was taking place, electrical current was allowed to flow to the airbag modules.

In newer vehicles, electronic sensors measure a vehicle’s deceleration (negative acceleration), process it mathematically through a computer algorithm, and then compare the measured values to the values stored inside it from crash testing. If the measured values indicate the crash is more severe than the stored crash tests, the control module allows electrical current to flow to the airbag modules.

Once the electrical current flows to the airbag modules, it heats up a “squib” within the inflator that has a small filament inside a container of chemically explosive or flammable material. Once the filament gets hot enough, the chemicals begin burning. This sets off a larger reaction of a chemical called sodium azide within the inflator, which rapidly produces nitrogen gas, along with numerous byproducts.

In some vehicles, the sodium azide inflator was replaced with an inflator using pressurized gas, usually a combination of helium and argon. With either type of inflator, the gas from the inflator then fills the fabric airbag that was folded over the inflator.

As the gas fills the airbag, it increases in size, eventually breaking out from behind its plastic cover and inflating to its maximum size. Driver airbags are generally shaped like a round pancake – just larger than the diameter of the steering wheel – and are normally about 12 to 20 inches thick when filled. Passenger airbags are generally about 2 to 3 feet wide, and fill the space between the passenger and the dash or windshield.

Since passenger airbags are usually 2 to 4 times larger than driver airbags, they require a more forceful inflator to fill that larger size in the same amount of time.

For frontal airbags, the process of sensing the crash and inflating the airbags is usually over in less than one-tenth of a second. As the forces of the crash propel the driver/passenger forward into the airbag, it begins to absorb the energy by compressing and letting some of the gas out through the fabric or through specially designed vent holes.

This explains why many people involved in a vehicle accident in which airbags deployed remember the distinct chemical odor of the inflation gas and seeing smoke in the car.

For side airbags and rollover airbags, the process is similar. A sensor in the side structure of the car, or sometimes inside the front door, detects the rapid deceleration from the side or the vehicle beginning to rotate upwards during a rollover crash. Electrical current is then sent to the side airbags or to the rollover airbags (depending on the type of crash), which causes those airbags to deploy. Although the chemicals and gases may be different than for front airbags, the inflation process is very similar.