Airbag Injuries in Gainesville, FL

Airbag Injuries in Gainesville, FL

Many car accidents result in seat belt injuries. Your seat belt prevents you from flying around the passenger compartment but at the cost of bruising your body.

Airbag injuries happen less frequently. Manufacturers design airbags to deploy only in certain types of collisions. But the force of the airbag during deployment can cause serious injuries in some situations.

Learn about airbag injuries in Gainesville, FL, and how you can seek compensation for them. Contact our experienced lawyers at Allen Law Firm, P.A., to schedule your free consultation at (877) 255-3652.

How Allen Law Firm, P.A. Can Help After an Airbag Injury Accident in Gainesville

How Allen Law Firm, P.A. Can Help After an Airbag Injury Accident in Gainesville

The lawyers at Allen Law Firm, P.A. have over a century of combined legal experience. Over their careers, the firm’s Gainesville car accident lawyers have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in injury compensation for their clients. 

Allen Law Firm is one of the highest-rated injury law firms in Gainesville. Some of the firm’s awards and honors include:

  • An AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest peer rating for legal knowledge and ethics
  • Membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum honor society for attorneys who have won or settled seven-figure cases
  • Listed among the nation’s Top 100 by The National Trial Lawyers

If you hire the firm to represent you, you’ll have a team to assist with your case by:

  • Collecting evidence to strengthen your claim and fully investigate the extent of your damages
  • Negotiating a settlement on your behalf and hiring experts to analyze your case
  • Arguing your case in front of an Alachua County jury at trial if necessary

When you get injured by your airbag, you might have permanent disfigurement and disabilities. Contact Allen Law Firm for a free consultation to discuss the compensation you might receive for your airbag injuries.

How Common Are Airbag Injuries?

You may have heard the myth that airbags kill more people than they save. This is not true. Airbags save about 2,500 lives per year, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Unfortunately, airbag injuries can happen. Sometimes these injuries happen at the cost of saving your life. In other words, instead of dying in an accident, you might suffer bruises and fractures from the airbag.

Airbags killed more than 290 people and injured thousands of others in older cars with model years 2007 or earlier. Since the U.S. government regulations changed in 2007, airbag injuries and deaths have occurred much less often.

The regulatory changes covered two aspects of airbag design. First, airbags deploy with less force now than before 2007. Second, most car manufacturers include manual shutoff switches and sensors so that airbags do not deploy when children or small adults occupy the seat.

As a result, deaths from the regular deployment of airbags in newer cars rarely happen.

Overview of Airbag Injuries in Gainesville, FL

Airbags have three main parts. A sensor sits at the front of the car and sends a signal to an inflator when it detects a front-end collision. The inflator triggers a chemical reaction, which quickly produces a large amount of gas that fills the airbag.

Rather than inflating like a balloon, the airbag has large vents to inflate like a parachute. So when you hit the airbag, it deflates to catch you instead of bouncing you away.

Injuries can happen during deployment. Airbags inflate in less than one-twentieth of a second. If your body blocks the airbag or steering wheel cover as it deploys, it can:

  • Fracture facial bones
  • Strain or sprain fingers
  • Break ribs

In a worst-case situation, an airbag can kill you. The airbag can strike your head, fracturing your neck or your skull. It can also hit your chest and drive your ribs or sternum into your vital organs.

These injuries happen more frequently in children or small adults. Smaller people tend to sit closer to the dashboard. This increases the risk they will get hit by the airbag as it deploys. They also sit lower, allowing the airbag to hit them in the head, neck, or upper chest.

Defective Airbags

Another source of airbag injuries comes from defective airbags. Takata was an auto parts manufacturer that supplied airbag inflators to 19 different auto manufacturers. These inflators made it into 67 million cars in the U.S. alone.

The inflators contained a volatile mix of chemicals that could explode prematurely or during deployment. The explosion could send shrapnel from the inflator into the face and neck of the driver or passenger.

Since 2001, Takata airbags have caused 24 deaths and over 300 injuries.

Liability for Airbag Injuries

Florida uses no-fault auto insurance. Minor injuries fall under the personal injury protection (PIP) coverage of your auto policy. You move outside the no-fault system only if you suffered a serious injury as defined by Florida law.

If an airbag injures you during normal deployment and you fall outside the no-fault system, you can seek compensation from the at-fault driver. Even though your injuries came from the airbag, an airbag injury was a natural and foreseeable result of a crash. This means the at-fault driver bears liability for them.

If your injuries have come from a defective airbag, you can also seek compensation from the manufacturer. Manufacturers have strict liability for defective products. Takata airbags, for example, had a design defect that made them unreasonably dangerous.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Gainesville Airbag Injury Lawyers

Airbags can cause severe injuries or even death. Contact Allen Law Firm to discuss the compensation you can seek for your airbag injuries. Our Gainesville airbag injury attorneys are ready to get to work to help.

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