Airbags and other safety features that now come standard on passenger vehicles are intended to protect you and your family in the event of a car accident. For example, front airbags are meant to prevent you from hitting your head on the steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield and side airbags are intense to protect you in rollover or broadside collisions.

While many motorists escape injury in accidents due to airbags, others unfortunately suffer additional injuries due to airbag deployment. Airbags deploy at high speeds and can often cause burns or contusions to a motorist’s arms, chest, and/or face. Airbags can be particularly dangerous for small children, and deployment may cause fractures, brain injuries, spinal injuries, and more. For these reasons, every driver should be aware of ways to prevent or limit injuries caused by airbags.

Know Where to Seat Your Child

As previously discussed on this blog, children must always be seated in the back seat until age eight, according to Georgia law. This is partially to protect them from injuries that may occur due to the deployment of airbags in the front seat. In addition, children should be properly restrained and must use an appropriate car seat or booster seat for their age, height, and weight.

Check to See if Your Car is Subject to Airbag Recalls

In recent months, major airbag manufacturer Takata has been recalling various vehicles with certain airbags due to possible dangerous defects with airbag inflators. The defects can cause the airbag to deploy too quickly or explode upon deployment, which can send pieces of sharp metal flying into the passenger compartment of the car. These metal pieces have caused numerous injuries and even deaths to motorists in recent years.

So far, Takata has only announced limited recalls in areas with high humidity, as the company claims the humidity is the trigger for the malfunction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is working for nationwide recalls, however, and various auto manufacturers have initiated their own recalls, including Mitsubishi, General Motors, Subaru, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mazda, Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota.

If you believe that your vehicle may be subject to a recall due to potentially defective airbags, it is highly important that you follow all recall instructions and have your airbags replaced or repaired as soon as possible. You never know when you will be involved in a collision that will cause the deployment of your airbags, so you never want to risk unnecessary injury because you delayed following up on a recall. You may also sign up with the NHTSA to receive alerts with new recall information via email or your Apple or Android mobile device.

In the unfortunate event that you or a family member is injured by an airbag or for another reason in a collision, you should always contact an experienced personal injury attorney in Atlanta to discuss your legal rights as soon as possible. At the office of Goldstein Hayes & Lina, LLC, we are dedicated to helping injured victims, so call today at (404) 869-8600 for help.