serious front collision in car airbag didnt deploy

[dizzycreak]

Hi, my Dh had a serious rta 2 weeks today. Toyota yaris hit fence head on, flipped on back & feel 20ft, car write off, air bag didnt deploy. Dh suffered facial injuries and left arm mutiple fractures resulting in 5 hour op to fix together.

I have reported it to toyota who are going to inspect the car but should we do anything else? We believe his injuries were probably caused by him hitting the steering wheel so if airbag worked he may have had less severe injuries.

Any advice please

Dizzycreak

[vikingaero]

Either the airbag system had a fault or the sensors didn't deploy the airbag because each separate impact (fence, flip, fall) wasn't hard enough to trigger the airbags.

Some people I know are surprised that airbags trigger at what they consider to be low speed impacts and others have major shunts without deployment of the airbags.

I would guess that a fence would be a light impact, the flip wouldn't have deployed the airbag because of no frontal collision, and the fall didn't trigger it either as there would have been no road speed information given to the sensors.

[mikey72]

All I can suggest is to seek independent legal advice on this, and I hope he recovers ok

[MaximumImpact]

Not sure what you want advice on???

Airbag Non Deployment happens...Dependant on the physics of the crash. Also Airbags deploy late, semi deploy..You will be very, very hard pushed to sue for non deployment of an airbag. Search the internet and you will find that even in America they very rarely sue for this.

Just because you have airbags isn't a guarantee of walking away from a crash with minor injuries.

[dizzycreak]

Thanks, the front of the car was completly crushed, even see front of dashboard pushed inwards.

He was lucky to have so few injuries really.

On a possitive note the car was strong enough not to crush when upside down!

[dizzycreak]

Not sure what you want advice on???

Airbag Non Deployment happens...Dependant on the physics of the crash. Also Airbags deploy late, semi deploy..You will be very, very hard pushed to sue for non deployment of an airbag. Search the internet and you will find that even in America they very rarely sue for this.

Just because you have airbags isn't a guarantee of walking away from a crash with minor injuries.

Thanks, really just thinking if we should do anything about compensation, never thought aboutit until a couple of days ago when someone else suggested it.

I can see its complicted though and we are just gratful that it wasnt worse

[Pew Pew Pew Lasers!]

Thanks, really just thinking if we should do anything about compensation, never thought aboutit until a couple of days ago when someone else suggested it.

Compensation for what?

[thescouselander]

Thanks, the front of the car was completly crushed, even see front of dashboard pushed inwards.

He was lucky to have so few injuries really.

On a possitive note the car was strong enough not to crush when upside down!


I cant understand this. Your DH was in a serious accident but escaped with his life and some non life threatening injuries but you still want compensation from the car manufacturer. It was probably the design of the car that saved him despite the air bag not going off - it could have been worse in an older car.

Whose fault was the accident anyway? If it was someone elses fault you would be better to pursue them for compensation. If is was his fault then there really is no-one else to blame.

[dobbie82]

Your insurance should cover the personal injury, time off work etc if you had full cover.

I agree with previous posters that the car didnt decellerate from a front impact, and there are no airbag sensors on the roof.

from an american website, where somone has complaine their airbag didnt go off,the reply was:

Although your Contour received extensive damage, it appears to me that the dynamics
of the crash never caused the front of the vehicle to receive a sudden deceleration
force. You need an instantaneous force equivalent to a 17mph collision with a
fixed object to deploy most new generation frontal airbags.

[Hintza]

Hmmmm, think I'll keep my trap shut on this one. (for the time being anyway)

[dizzycreak]

ok, we had not even thought of compensation until other poeple suggested it and still dont feel its appropriate but just wanted other peoples views, didnt mean to suggest we were aafter money

[goldspanners]

Hi, my Dh had a serious rta 2 weeks today. Toyota yaris hit fence head on, flipped on back & feel 20ft, car write off, air bag didnt deploy.



so he hit a fence head on and you feel you are due compensation? maybe get him some driving lessons.

[vaio]

It’s really down to the physics of the crash.

If the forces were high enough that the airbags should have gone off and didn’t due to a manufacturing or design fault and the driver suffered injury as a result then why on earth shouldn’t he be compensated?

Ralph Nader had a fine line in protecting consumers from bad design by car makers, as this is a money saving/consumer rights website I’m surprised as some of the comments in this thread

[goldspanners]

It’s really down to the physics of the crash.

If the forces were high enough that the airbags should have gone off and didn’t due to a manufacturing or design fault and the driver suffered injury as a result then why on earth shouldn’t he be compensated?

Ralph Nader had a fine line in protecting consumers from bad design by car makers, as this is a money saving/consumer rights website I’m surprised as some of the comments in this thread

airbags can also cause injury when they do go off and im sure people have tried to claim compensation for being injured by an airbag, so where does it all end?

[mikey72]

airbags can also cause injury when they do go off and im sure people have tried to claim compensation for being injured by an airbag, so where does it all end?
It ends when you don't need to stand up for your rights.
If the op claimed the brakes hadn't worked, would he get the same response? If safety equipment you have paid for, and expected to function fails, some form of redress is required.

[Nilrem]

However aibag non deployment isn't automatically a failure, as others have said there can be plenty of situations in which an airbag doesn't deploy because it's working exactly as designed (and the necessary criteria for deployment have not been met).

[mikey72]

I agree with that as well, and I also know nothing about the accident.
However I think some of the comments here are un-called for, and others just unpleasant.
I can see nothing wrong with compensation if it is justified, and it isn't a dirty word to me.

[vaio]

However aibag non deployment isn't automatically a failure, as others have said there can be plenty of situations in which an airbag doesn't deploy because it's working exactly as designed (and the necessary criteria for deployment have not been met).

and if the necessary criteria for deployment have been met and it doesn't go off?

[uktyler]

It ends when you don't need to stand up for your rights.
If the op claimed the brakes hadn't worked, would he get the same response? If safety equipment you have paid for, and expected to function fails, some form of redress is required.

The response would have been different if someone was standing in front of the fence, or the driver was drunk at the time.

Maybe it will end up that everyone who has an accident is given money, regardless of who is at fault. Air bags are designed to go off in a front collision of 17mph+, if the fence was not strong enough to register this impact, or the driver was going under 17mph at the fence, then they should not of deployed. If the car was not on its wheels as it went down the drop, the airbag would not deploy because the air bags only work when the sensors detect movement at the wheels.

Also if the airbag had deployed at the fence, if could well have deflated by the time the vehicle stopped, meaning similar injuries could have been sustained regardless of deployment.

Unless the car in question has a history on air bag failure I can't see how the OP can prove it was a manufacturing issue.

Giving the car back to Toyota is only likely to result in them saying the airbag was not faulty, can you really see them saying 'yeas sorry it did not work, how much money do you want from us?'

[Hintza]

The OP will be fully entitled to compensation if they can prove that the airbag was faulty, had not been tampered with etc. But to do that will cost money and possibly a lot of money, so will need to hire a solicitor. If the OP can't afford to hire a solicitor then they will have to come to a no win no fee arrangement with a solicitor and to get them to take the case on they will have to convince them of the merits of the case.

[hewhoisnotintheknow]

certain criteria need to be met for the airbag to go off, i guess they were not

[goldspanners]

If the op claimed the brakes hadn't worked, would he get the same response? If safety equipment you have paid for, and expected to function fails, some form of redress is required.

no, of course not, the first thing i would have asked is what age is the vehicle, who maintains it, when was it last serviced,when was the brake fluid changed,when were the pads,discs,shoes changed?
we dont know how old this yaris is? is it 10 years old or is it brand new? is there a service schedule for the airbag system or even an expiry date on the airbag?

[sarahg1969]

The OP will be fully entitled to compensation if they can prove that the airbag was faulty...

And he will then have to prove that his injuries were caused, or exacerbated, by the failure of the airbag.

[dizzycreak]

Just to clear some things up, the car was only 18mths old, serviced and well maintained. Driver, an advanced driver and very careful, was not drunk or at fault according to the police, but has no memory of the accident. Most likley cause was him swerving off main road for something in road or oncomming car.

Would have been travelling about 40 mph so hit fence with some force and either flipped then or fell forward falling on its bonnet then flipping on to back.

The injury was severe and it looked like he might have lost his arm but very dedicated drs saved it.

We are so grateful that he is here with us and not in a more serious condition but doubts about the airbag are in our mind. The cars have a good safty record and it did protect most of him but if the airbag had a fault then how many others do and another person may not be so lucky.

Thank you for your comments and thoughts, they are very varied.

[thescouselander]

I think it unlikely that the airbag will have had a fault that went undetected. These systems self check and most faults are picked up causing the airbag light to come illuminate on the dash.

It would just be speculation to try and work out what happened but if you are really concerned I suggest you get the car examined by an independent expert. In the mean time don't let Toyota get their hands on the car incase they destroy any evidence (either inadvertently or on purpose).