Airbag failures in DC truck accidents can cause significant injuries for victims of negligent drivers. They can also lead to some of the most common injuries in our several decades of practice in the District. Many of the injuries our clients suffer in truck accidents are to the neck and back. The more severe injuries may include fractured ribs, elbows, wrists, etc. These occur due to slamming a body part onto a solid part of the inside of the truck. However, an airbag can prevent these fractures if it deploys correctly. But what if the airbag fails to deploy properly? And what qualifies as an airbag failure in a DC truck accident? To understand this, we must first understand the purpose of the airbag and then what constitutes a failure.
Airbags are critical safety components in trucks, designed to reduce the risk of injury in the event of a collision. Airbags do not work unilaterally. Instead, they work in conjunction with other safety features available in your truck. For example, a seatbelt performs the same functions as an airbag. Like any other advanced motor vehicle, a large truck typically contains several airbags. For the driver, airbags should be to protect your chest, side airbags to protect your head from slamming into the window, airbags in your seat, airbags in the center console, and more. Typically, there are between six and ten airbags in a vehicle.
Some fire and rescue teams utilize the 5, 10, 20 rule. This rule states that you should stay five inches away from the side-curtain airbags, 10 inches from the driver’s airbags, and 20 inches away from the passenger airbag when positioning your seat in a comfortable driving position.
While there are countless potential causes for airbag failure in a DC truck accident, below we discuss the three most common causes we see.
A manufacturing defect is a product liability claim. This means we are not making a negligence claim against a negligent driver. Instead, we are suing the manufacturer of the airbag. This may include naming the truck manufacturer as a defendant, too. A manufacturing defect in producing a semi truck’s airbag is present when there is a deviation from the original design in the manufacturing process. In other words, there is no design defect. If there is a design defect, then the airbag is fundamentally flawed. However, a manufacturing defect implies that the airbag would be effective if manufactured correctly.
Sensor issues are another common cause of airbag failures in trucks. As we know, an airbag failure in a DC truck accident can lead to serious injury. An issue with the sensor that signals when the airbag should deploy can worsen those injuries in a severe accident. If a sensor has a bug, it may deploy the airbag late. In some cases, a delayed airbag may as well not have deployed at all. A delayed airbag can even be worse. Imagine if you get into a truck accident in downtown Washington, D.C., your airbag fails to deploy, and you slam your head on the steering wheel. Eight seconds later, your airbag finally deploys, smacking you in your head and worsening the injuries to your face and neck.
Proving a sensor issue for an airbag failure requires an expert witness. While we have extensive experience handling airbag failures in DC accident cases, we do not qualify as experts for expert testimony, and the attorney in a case should not be the one to give expert testimony anyway. Further, any expert witness is expensive. To hire an expert witness, not only do we have to pay them for their time in court, we must pay them for other costs they incur as well. This may include travel and lodging expenses if they are specialized hail from outside the DC area. Thus, to make a case against an airbag manufacturer, there should be sufficient damages to justify using resources.
Incorrect servicing of an airbag can also lead to an airbag failure in a DC truck accident case. Whether it is due to the electrical system or some other defect within the truck, we must prove negligence by some party related to the accident. Similar to sensor issues, proving improper maintenance is complex. Proving improper maintenance may be even more complicated because we have to pinpoint exactly who made the mistake, which is not immediately apparent. Thus, we may incur expenses beyond the expert witnesses. This is one of the benefits of hiring an experienced attorney.
Our attorneys can perform a deep dive with the help of practiced truck experts to pinpoint precisely where the improper maintenance occurred, who must have been responsible, and identify the negligent tortfeasor. In these cases, we do not merely go after the negligent mechanic. Instead, we go after their employer. While the mechanic, in his personal capacity, may not have insurance to cover your damages, their employer likely does.
Liability and compensation for an airbag failure in a DC truck accident will be case-dependent. There will likely be more than one party liable for your truck accident. For example, if you are rear-ended in your truck or by a truck, and then your airbag fails, worsening your injuries, more than one party is liable. Taking it one at a time, first, we will examine the driver who rear-ended you.
A tortfeasor is liable for all the damages to the plaintiff as a natural consequence of the original negligence. These are known as foreseeable intervening forces. Another example may be medical malpractice you suffer during the surgery after the truck accident. For that, too, the original tortfeasor is liable for the malpractice as much as the doctor is. That is known as joint and several liability. Going back to airbags, the original tortfeasor is jointly and severally liable for your airbag malfunction if they caused the accident. Thus, you can recover all your damages from the original tortfeasor if they have a sufficient insurance policy. Then, that tortfeasor’s insurance provider may seek indemnification from the airbag manufacturer, and it becomes their problem, not yours.
But what if you caused your truck accident? You may still have a claim against the manufacturer, but it is a far worse case overall. But that does not mean you do not have options, and it is always worth consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney. These cases are always worth considering. For example, if you were in a minor collision with your trash can, and your airbag deploys at speed far faster than it should have been and kills you, you, or your estate, may choose to pursue that claim.
Here are the five steps after an airbag failure in a DC truck accident.
For 70 years, Gelb & Gelb, P.C. has been handling truck accident cases in Washington, D.C. While airbags were not mandatory in vehicles for the first 44 years of our practice, they became so in 1998. Since then, we have handled many airbag failure cases.
If you are injured by an airbag failure in a DC truck accident, call our office immediately at (202) 331-7227 for a free consultation.
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