Many airbags have straps inside the fabric airbag that are called tethers. These tethers are designed to prevent the airbag from reaching too far toward a driver or passenger and violently slamming them in the face. However, some manufacturers did not install tethers in all of their airbag designs. Although not using tethers can save a company millions of dollars, it can cause significant injuries to its customers. Typical injuries resulting from a lack of tethers include: blindness, eye injury, facial abrasions and other traumatic injuries.  Tethers can prevent many of these injuries.

Tethers also have other advantages. They help position the airbag properly during the deployment sequence so that it does not slam a passenger in the face, and can provide maximum protection during a crash. They also help ensure a more consistent deployment, helping reduce the effects of manufacturing inconsistencies.

Some manufacturers use tethers in many of their driver airbags.

Airbag Tether

Unfortunately, some of these car companies (including Chrysler and Honda/Acura) did not implement tethers until after consumers suffered numerous facial injuries from their initial airbags that did not include tethers. Other manufacturers fail to use tethers in passenger airbags even though even the most basic review of crash testing shows they strike the passenger in the face during deployment and before they achieve their fully inflated shape.  In our airbag lawsuits, we have also uncovered some airbags that have a very poorly designed tether that still allows people to be blinded by the airbag.

A design standard for the industry to limit the risk of eye injuries was published in the 1970s. That standard specified a maximum speed of an airbag if it contacts a passenger in the eyes. Incredibly, some manufacturers still do not conduct testing to measure the speed of their inflating airbag, even when it is clear that the airbag can strike the passenger in the eyes.

Government studies have confirmed the benefits of tethers in laboratory tests, and technical papers published in the industry have proven that tethers reduce eye injuries during accidents where the airbags deploy.

Our testing in this area has documented that some untethered airbags carry a significant risk of causing blindness and eye injuries. In fact, our data reveals that some of passenger airbags deploy at speeds above 300 mph! Can you imagine having an airbag hit you in the eyes at 300 mph? Now you know why tethers should be used inside YOUR airbag.

How can you tell if your airbag has tethers?  Unfortunately, most manufacturers do not tell consumers whether the airbags in their cars are tethered.  Often, people find out their airbag lacked this safety feature only after they were injured by the airbag after it deployed in a wreck.  An experienced airbag lawyer knows what to look for to determine whether tethers were used in your airbag, and whether the tethers worked appropriately.