This case involves a man who was involved in a high-speed automotive accident in North Carolina. At the time of the incident, the man was driving a late-model american sports car on the highway near his home. The man rear-ended a disabled tractor trailer while traveling at a high rate of speed. During the crash, the car’s airbags failed to deploy, causing the man’s face to strike the surface of the car’s steering wheel. As a result, the man suffered a number of facial injuries, including broken bones and the loss of multiple teeth. It was later discovered that the airbags in his car had been subject to a recall over defective inflator units.
Question(s) For Expert Witness
1. Can you determine if the airbag malfunctioned?
Expert Witness Response E-144069
The car in question here is not equipped with an Event Data Recorder (EDR) within it's Airbag Control Module; however, there is likely an EDR component retained within it's Powertrain Control Module accessible only by the manufacturer. Engineers from the manufacturer could be compelled to extract this information. An inspection of the vehicle would be critical to document the location and severity of the damage in order to understand if the impact would have activated the airbag system. The criterium for deployment of airbag systems is considered intellectual property specific to each vehicle manufacturer and is not specifically known, so an analysis of this crash scenario compared to previous comparable testing and white papers could be used to determine proper or improper retention of the airbag system. Current NHTSA documents do not outline recalls associated with a failure to deploy airbags but rather the airbag inflator rupturing upon deployment. Because a failure to deploy is not currently acknowledged as an issue the analysis would be critical to understand if it should have deployed during this scenario.
About the author
Joseph O'Neill
Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.
