Airbags are meant to reduce the risk of injury and death in car accidents. As such, it can feel like cruel irony when a defective airbag causes or exacerbates injuries. Defective airbags can cause severe injury if they deploy improperly or fail to deploy at all, and victims can be left with expensive medical bills and other losses.
If you’ve been injured by an airbag in a car accident, you should speak to a Channelview car accident attorney about your legal rights and options. You may be able to file a personal injury claim to recover money for your losses. We can be your legal advocates and fight for your interests and well-being.
Our team at Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for thousands of satisfied clients. Call us today to speak to an airbag injury lawyer in Channelview about your case.
How Airbags Can Cause Injury
Airbags are incredible safety devices that have drastically reduced the rate of injuries and death in car accidents since their widespread adoption. However, they are just as capable of causing severe injuries if they are defective.
Below are some common ways that defective airbags can cause injury:
- Expanding too early or too late
- Failing to deploy at all
- Partial inflation
- Shrapnel injuries from airbag casing
- Chemical exposure and burns
Airbags rely on a complex network of sensors and activators to detect a crash and inflate properly. If even just one of these components is defective or has an inherently dangerous design, it can lead to total airbag failures.
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Preserving Evidence After an Airbag Injury
If possible, avoid having your vehicle repaired or discarded before a lawyer can inspect it. The airbag module, sensors, and deployment data can reveal whether a defect caused the malfunction. Photographing the damage and requesting your vehicle’s event data recorder information early can help preserve critical proof before it’s lost or altered.
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Who Is Liable for Airbag Injuries After a Car Accident?
As a general rule, manufacturers can be liable for injuries due to defective airbags. Whatever company manufactured or installed the airbag may be responsible for your injuries. To make a successful product liability claim, you need to prove two things:
- The airbags were defective, either due to manufacturing errors or dangerous design
- The defective airbags caused your injuries or made them worse than they would’ve been
In Texas, product liability claims are tried under a strict liability standard. Because you don’t have to prove the manufacturer was negligent, establishing that the airbag was defective and caused your injuries can often be enough to hold the manufacturer liable.
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Compensation You Can Recover
An airbag injury lawyer in Channelview can pursue a personal injury claim to recover any losses you suffered as a direct result of your injuries. Depending on your circumstances, this may include the following:
- Emergency medical bills and cost of future medical treatment
- Lost work income and employment benefits you missed out on while recovering
- Diminished earning capacity due to permanent disability
- Cost of replacement household services
- Pain and suffering and emotional distress
- Mental anguish due to scarring or disfigurement
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Comparative Negligence Can Impact Your Case
Airbag injuries can be worse if the victim isn’t wearing a seatbelt. In these cases, comparative negligence can impact the value of a claim. If you are partially negligent, your total financial compensation can be reduced. Failing to wear a seatbelt could count as negligence on your part and may impact how much money you receive.
The structure of Texas’s comparative negligence laws means that you’ll want to work with a legal professional. A personal injury lawyer in Channelview from our firm can work to reduce claims of shared fault.
Time Limit for Filing an Airbag Injury Lawsuit in Channelview
Under Texas’s personal injury statute of limitations (Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003), you typically have two years to file a lawsuit for airbag injuries. The two-year timer generally starts counting from the date you received your injuries or the date that you discovered you had them.
However, there is an additional time limit that applies in product liability cases. You generally can’t file a lawsuit if it’s been more than 15 years since the defective product was first sold. This latter statute of repose applies regardless of your knowledge of injuries.
Contact Our Offices to Speak to a Channelview Airbag Injury Lawyer
If you’ve recently been injured by a defective airbag, a legal professional can fight for your rights. Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers has more than 20 years of experience pursuing justice on behalf of the injured. Let us be your legal advocate and handle the difficult legal legwork, so you can prioritize healing and recovery.
Are you ready to speak to our Channelview airbag injury lawyers about your case? If so, give us a call or send us a message online to schedule a free consultation.
Call or Text (713) 500-5000 or Complete a Case Evaluation Form