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Airbag Injuries


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Airbag Injuries

Activated air bags can inflict severe eye injuries, including blindness, even in minor car accidents, a small-scale study shows. The research report, published in the Journal of Ophthalmic Surgery and Lasers, describes the spectrum of air-bag-related eye injuries seen during a two-year period by an ophthalmology trauma team at UCLA. The damage ranged in severity from bruises in the eye socket to a critically ruptured eyeball, resulting in blindness.

All patients suffered significant trauma to the soft tissues and bones of the eye socket and/or serious injury to the eyeball itself, the researchers found. The predominant injuries were bruising of the socket (orbital contusion) and bleeding in the eyeball (Hyphema). All five patients suffered Hyphema, and three later developed angle-recession glaucoma, or pressure in the eye due to rips in the eye's drainage system. Glaucoma, which can slowly destroy vision, needs ongoing treatment. In general, the number of eye injuries from air bags may be rising as more cars become equipped with air bags.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that since 1990, airbag deployment has killed 227 people in low-severity crashes, including 76 drivers, 10 adult passengers, 119 children between the ages of 1 and 11, and 22 infants. Of the 76 adult drivers killed, 28 were women under 5 feet 2 inches tall, and 4 of the 10 adult passengers killed were females smaller than that height.

Airbag systems were developed for the 5 ft 8 inch 180 lb. male, and only tested to be sure they met their needs. Unfortunately, this did not help shorter people, who have to sit closer to the steering wheel than 10 or 12 inches. Nor did the requirements consider children, or those who have medical reasons why they are in danger from the force of an exploding airbag. New medical findings are now available that illustrate the danger of airbag injury to all people. Injuries are far more prevalent than deaths, but the data is difficult to evaluate because accidents and injuries are voluntarily reported to the National Automotive Sampling System and include information not investigated and verified. But these are the best information available. Injuries are not recognized as an issue or tracked by NHTSA.

Dr Maria-Segui Gomez, leading airbag researcher, reported that for female drivers, airbags create a net protective effect only when a vehicle's speed exceeds 52 to 62 Kmh ( 32 to 38 mph). Ms Gomez published this study in the American Journal of Public Health on October 2000, and she also stated that these speeds may be conservative (i.e. may be higher) because of limitations in the data. At lower speeds, the potential for injury from airbags outweighs the benefits. This included all female drivers, not just the shorter ones defined in NHTSA's endangered group.

If you or a loved have suffered an injury from an airbag, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified product liability attorney.
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Airbag Failures Involved in Hundreds of Fatalities Each Year, Yet Little Action is Taken

Oct 22, 2007 | Parker Waichman Alonso LLP
Airbags are considered by many as a last line of defense against serious injury in a car accident.  But a new investigation has found that airbags often fail to deploy when they should, leaving accident victims seriously – and sometimes fatally – injured.   The investigation, conducted by the Kansas City Star, also found that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is doing very little to protect consumers from the threat of airbag failure, and that...

Air Bag Injury Risk Linked To Height

May 16, 2007 | www.cbsnews.com
In a crash, automobile air bags may raise the odds of serious injury for short or tall front-seat passengers, a new study shows. The study comes from Craig Newgard, M.D., of Oregon Health & Science University. He's due to present his findings Friday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Newgard analyzed injury statistics for 1995-2005 from a motor vehicle crash database. The database shows that during the years studied, 52,552 drivers and 14,732...

Toyota recalling some Scion TC sedans due to side air bags

Oct 24, 2006 | www.cbsmarketwatch.com
Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) said Tuesday it was recalling about 30,000 Scion tC sports coupes over concerns that the side air bags could inadvertently deploy if the door is slammed.The recall affects about 20% of the tCs produced during the 2005 and 2006 model years, Toyota said. The vehicle is only sold in the United States.The auto maker said seat-mounted side air bags and side curtain air bags could deploy if the door on that side of the vehicle is closed forcefully while the ignition is on or...

Report: Toyota To Recall Tundra Pickups Over Air Bags

Jul 11, 2006 | www.newsnet5.com
Toyota Motor Corp. will deactivate front-seat passenger air bag cut-off switches in many Tundra pickups to avoid having to install a costlier child safety seat anchoring system, a newspaper said Monday. The Japanese automaker made the move after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on June 28 rejected Toyota's petition to waive a federal safety regulation, according to The Detroit News. The regulation requires most vehicles built after September 2002 and equipped with the cut-off...

NHTSA Opens Investigation of Over 800,000 Chrysler Vehicles with Potentially Faulty Airbag Sensors

Mar 14, 2006 | Newsinferno News Staff
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a formal investigation (Action Number EA06003) into more than 800,000 DaimlerChrysler vehicles for potentially defective airbag sensors that can delay or prevent the deployment of airbags in the event of an accident. The preliminary evaluation, which has been upgraded to an "engineering analysis,"   found that the front air bag sensors may corrode due to water seeping in to the sensor assembly. ...

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Airbag Injuries
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