Airbag inflators are the component within an airbag system that produces the gas that inflates an airbag. For frontal airbags, there were two major types of inflators. One type used solid chemicals that burned very rapidly (less than 1/20th of a second) to produce nitrogen gas. The most common chemical for these inflators was sodium azide, which had been used in the defense armaments industry. The other type used stored gas (often a mixture of helium and argon) that was heated to expand it and fill the bag.

When either type of inflator deploys, the gas that is produced always contains byproducts of the combustion process. These byproducts can include dangerous gases as benzene and toluene, as well as particulates that appear to be smoke. This is one reason why many people involved in an accident where the airbags deployed report seeing smoke in the passenger compartment. These byproducts can cause significant breathing difficulties, particularly in those people who already suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.

Through most of the 1990s, the cars produced by the car companies used a “one size fits all” inflator in their airbag systems. That meant that once your airbag sensors sent the deployment signal, the airbag would deploy with the same force regardless of the accident circumstances. So, you got the same airbag force in an 8 mph fender-bender as a highway-speed head-on collision. It didn’t matter whether you were a short woman or a big and tall man – it was always the same. However, dual stage inflators were feasible during that time frame; they would adjust the force of the deployment based on the severity of the accident. Most people don’t realize that such dual stage airbags were being sold by General Motors in the mid-1970s at its Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac dealers.

Since the late 1990s, car companies have returned to dual stage inflator technology, and are now using multi-stage technology. These inflators adjust the force of the deployment depending on such things as crash severity, seat belt use, seat position and occupant size.  Many of these airbag systems use advanced computer systems to adjust the inflator force; unfortunately, as with many other computer-based systems, they sometimes fail with devastating results.  Sometimes the airbag inflator deploys at full power when it should not have deployed at all.  At other times, the airbag inflator does not deploy at all when it should have, depriving the person of the safety benefits of their airbag.

With the complexity of today’s airbag systems, you need an experienced airbag attorney, preferably with an airbag engineering background, to determine whether your airbag system worked as intended during your accident.

After an airbag deployment, some consumers report seeing one or two holes in their airbag. They then question whether their airbag deployed properly. The short answer is: it depends. This post will describe the various types of holes in airbag fabric, and some of their causes.

Some airbags are designed to have holes in them. These are called vent holes, because their purpose is to release or “vent” the gas that is inside the airbag. As the gas exits the vent holes, the airbag compresses, gradually slowing down your body during a crash. These vent holes are usually round, and can have a diameter of between about ¾ inch and 3 inches. The smaller vent holes are often used in driver airbags, with the larger vent holes used almost exclusively in passenger air bags. When you look at them, the circular shape should be fairly obvious. However, if the fabric around the edge of the vent is not reinforced, the pressure within the airbag during the crash can make the round hole more square in shape by slight tearing of the fabric. This can be normal, if they were designed to tear. In almost all cases, vent holes in a driver air bag should face to the front, away from you. Vent holes in a passenger air bag are generally on the sides of the airbag, and not in the portion of the fabric that you normally touch.

A few vehicles used “petal vents” which are semi-circular slits in a driver airbag. The intent is that these vents open up like a flap when the airbag is pressurized. Some believe that these vents are not nearly as efficient as traditional vent holes, and can be a sign of an inflator that over-pressurizes the airbag.

Holes in your airbag that are lengthy or irregular can be signs that your airbag tore during deployment. We have seen some instances where the fabric “catches” on a piece of the surrounding frame or cover. If this happens, your airbag did not perform as it should have, and you may not have been fully protected during your accident. In a few cases, large scale ripping of the airbag fabric (or its tethers) is caused by airbag inflators that are overly aggressive: their forcefulness simply rips the fabric apart during the deployment process. These are clearly defective.

In some other instances, you can have either a circular hole or an irregular hole in the fabric closest to the driver or passenger. These can be caused by defects in the airbag inflator that cause it to break apart. Loose pieces from such a defect can then be sent flying like shrapnel right through the bag. These same pieces can cause devastating injuries to a driver or passenger in their path.

A car company or supplier who produces defective airbags or airbag inflators should accept responsibility for their defect; if not, you should speak with an air bag lawyer knowledgeable about such issues.

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.

Ford has recalled 29,000 Ford Escort cars from the 1995 model year for an airbag defect.  Two bolts that are intended to secure the passenger airbag module to the instrument panel (dash assembly) are missing.  In a crash where the air bags deploy, the passenger air bag can come out of the dash,which increases the risk of personal injury to the passenger.

Isn’t it amazing that despite all the claims about excellent quality control and quality being “Job One”, mistakes like this still happen?  And this isn’t just an issue about poor fit and finish, but a safety defect that can injure you.  The dealership fix is simple: secure the bolts like the factory was supposed to.

The government’s recall number is 94V-197.

General Motors announced a recall of more than 675,000 Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire vehicles from the 1996 and 1997 model years for an airbag sensor defect.  Those vehicles use a Sensing and Diagnostic Module (SDM) that also serves as a “black box” for the airbag system.  Unfortunately, GM did not calibrate the software inside the SDM properly.

This safety sensor defect could result in the airbag sensor interpreting non-accident events as crashes requiring deployment.  In this kind of failure, even an impact to the underside of the car (such as from a rock) can fool the air bag sensor into thinking it was a serious crash and deploying the airbags.  There have also been reports of the airbags deploying without any significant impact at all.  If the airbag deploys while you are driving, it can shock you and even knock you out, causing an accident.  Of course, since the airbag already deployed, it is not there to protect you when you get into that accident.  The result can be serious personal injury or a wrongful death.

In such a case, you have to be prepared for GM’s argument that the air bag deployed during the accident, rather than before the accident.  There are ways to determine this by analyzing the internal (hexadecimal) data within the crash sensor and forensic marks from the accident, but it is a complicated process requiring engineering skills.  If this happened to you or a loved one, it would be helpful to hire an airbag lawyer who also has airbag engineering experience.  You need someone who can understand the complex issues in interpreting the black box data in General Motors vehicles, including the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire.

The government’s recall number is 98V-146.

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.

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.

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.