Airbags involve the rapid deployment of a large cushion at speeds that can exceed 230 mph. The entire deployment and inflation process is about 0.2 sec. Airbags deploy in about 0.05 second. A vehicle changes speed so fast in a crash. Therefore, air bags must inflate rapidly if they are to help reduce the risk of the occupant hitting the car’s interior.
Newer airbags trigger at a lesser speed. Still passengers must remain at least 10 inches from the bag to avoid injury from the bag in a crash. While airbags can protect a person under the right circumstances, they can also injure or kill. Protect yourself and your passengers from unnecessary injuries or even deaths.
Airbags produce more than 1200 lbs of force. Activated air bags can inflict severe eye injuries, including blindness, abrasions of the skin, hearing damage (from the sound during deployment), head and facial injuries, and breaking the fingers, hands or arms. The most common injuries are bruising of the eye socket and bleeding in the eyeball. Some of these victims go on to develop angle-recession glaucoma, or pressure in the eye due to rips in the eye's drainage system. Glaucoma can slowly destroy vision. The number of eye injuries from air bags may be rising. Pipe smoking should be avoided while driving. If the airbag inflates and hits the pipe, it is likely to be fatal, even in a moderate crash.
In 1990, the first automotive fatality attributed to an airbag was reported. Deaths peaked in 1997 at 53 in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that since 1990, airbag deployment has killed 227 people in low-severity crashes.
Serious or even fatal injuries can occur when someone is very close to, or in direct contact with an air bag module when the air bag deploys. Such injuries may be sustained by unrestrained or improperly restrained occupants who slide forward in the seat during pre-crash braking, unconscious drivers who are slumped over the steering wheel, and properly restrained drivers who sit too close to the steering wheel.
Children under 12 should always be restrained in a rear seat. A rear-facing infant restraint should never be put in the front seat of a vehicle with a front passenger air bag. Such a restraint places an infant's head close to the air bag module.
For more information about Evan Aidman, a Philadelphia, PA Vision Injury Lawyer and his work with clients with serious injuries click here: Philadelphia, PA Air Bag Injury Lawyer
Evan Aidman is the founder and principal of the Law Offices of Evan K. Aidman. Mr. Aidman received a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from the University of Florida where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society after compiling a near perfect scholastic record. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, an Ivy League Institution, in 1983.
Click Here for Attorney Aidman's website: Philadelphia Air bag Injury Lawyers
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