Your car’s airbags are designed to protect you during a hard collision. If your airbags deployed during a motor vehicle accident, odds are, you were hit with quite a bit of force. While airbags mitigate the risk of more serious injuries and death, they can cause certain injuries during deployment – especially if the airbag was defective. If you were involved in a car accident and injured by your airbags, it is important to get in touch with an attorney as quickly as you can. Evidence can be lost or hidden very quickly after a car crash. Certain evidence, like accident scene photographs, cannot be reproduced after time has passed. Do not hesitate to contact an attorney if you were hurt in a car crash.
What Injuries Do Airbags Cause?
While your airbag may have protected you from certain types of injuries during the accident, it could also have caused a different injury. Airbag injuries, while potentially less severe than the injury you may have endured without it, can still have a major impact on your life. The negligent driver who caused the accident will be liable for your injuries that resulted from airbag deployment – after all, your airbag would never have gone off had they not caused an accident. Common airbag injuries include:
- Facial Bone Fractures – The bones in the face, especially around the eye, are quite delicate. The force of an airbag striking your face can cause fractures to these delicate bones, which may require surgery and cause permanent scarring.
- Brain Injuries – Concussions and contusions are common.
- Internal Bleeding – Depending on how you were positioned relative to the airbag, its force can be powerful enough to damage internal organs and cause bleeding, which can be life-threatening and must be treated in a hospital.
- Eye or Ear Damage – The effects of an ear or eye injury can cause permanent loss of vision or hearing and lead to long-term disability.
- Burns – The chemicals used in airbags can potentially cause burns, which could be disfiguring.
- Wrist and Hand Injuries – Wrist and hand fractures are common, especially if you were trying to steer to avoid a careless driver or bracing yourself. These injuries are not to be underestimated – whether you work at a desk, with your hands, or as a homemaker, you probably use your fingers, hands, and wrists constantly and would have a hard time doing your job.
Call a Wisconsin Auto Accidents Injuries Attorney
If you were hurt in a car crash caused by a careless driver or defective airbags, you will need an experienced Appleton car accident lawyer on your side. Your lawyer will need to begin preserving evidence almost immediately, so do not wait to make the call. Critical evidence, like pictures of the damage to both vehicles and the accident scene, need to be gathered quickly, before any repairs or cleanup can begin. The sooner you contact Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., the sooner we can begin investigating your case and trying to recover compensation for you. Call 920-739-7366 for a free consultation.
Source:
https://www.iihs.org/topics/airbags#airbag-injuries