Airbag Defect and Non-Deployment Claims

If your airbag failed to deploy, deployed violently, or sprayed metal fragments during a crash, you may have a product liability claim against the vehicle or airbag manufacturer — separate from any claim against the other driver. These cases usually turn on a defect theory (design, manufacturing, or "failure to warn") and on "crashworthiness" — whether the vehicle reasonably protected you in a foreseeable crash, even if the crash itself wasn't the manufacturer's fault. The single most important thing you can do right now is preserve the vehicle and its data before it's repaired, sold, or scrapped.

What counts as an airbag defect

Airbag defect claims generally fall into a few recognized categories:

• Non-deployment or late deployment — the airbag should have gone off in a moderate-to-severe frontal or side impact and didn't, or deployed too late to help.
• Aggressive or "over-deployment" — the airbag deployed with excessive force, causing burns, eye injuries, broken bones, or worse, often in crashes that shouldn't have triggered that much force.
• Shrapnel/inflator rupture — best known from the Takata inflator recalls, where the metal canister that inflates the airbag can rupture and send metal fragments into the driver or passenger. This defect has been linked to serious injuries and deaths and triggered one of the largest automotive recalls in U.S. history.
• Sensor or wiring defects — a faulty crash sensor, wiring harness, or control module that fails to tell the airbag to fire.

These claims are typically brought as product liability cases under your state's law, using theories like design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure to warn, and sometimes ordinary negligence against the manufacturer, parts supplier, or dealership that performed a recall repair.

Crashworthiness: a separate legal theory

Crashworthiness (sometimes called "enhanced injury") law asks a different question than "who caused the crash." Even if you ran a red light or another driver was clearly at fault, you may still have a claim against the vehicle manufacturer if a defect made your injuries worse than they should have been. Courts in most states recognize that automakers have a duty to design vehicles that reasonably protect occupants in foreseeable collisions — airbags, seatbelts, the frame, and door latches are all part of that analysis. In a crashworthiness case, your lawyer typically has to separate out which injuries were caused by the crash itself versus which were made worse ("enhanced") by the defect, which usually requires biomechanical and engineering experts.

Check for a recall first

Before anything else, find out whether your vehicle was under an open recall for the airbag system at the time of the crash. The Takata inflator recall affected tens of millions of vehicles across many manufacturers over several years, and other airbag-related recalls have followed for different components. You can check your vehicle's recall status for free using your 17-character Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's lookup tool at nhtsa.gov/recalls. If a recall was open and unrepaired, that can be significant evidence, though it does not automatically decide the case — you'll still need to show the defect caused or worsened your injury.

Preserve the vehicle and the data

This is the step people most often get wrong, and it can quietly destroy an otherwise strong case.

• Do not let the vehicle be repaired, sold, junked, or crushed until a lawyer or expert has inspected it — even if your insurer calls it a total loss. Once a salvage yard crushes or parts out the car, the physical evidence is gone forever.
• Ask your insurer, in writing, to hold the vehicle and notify you before any disposal, sale, or auction.
• Preserve the Event Data Recorder ("black box"). Most modern vehicles record pre-crash speed, braking, seatbelt use, and airbag deployment timing for a few seconds around the crash. This data can be overwritten or lost if the vehicle is repaired or the battery is disconnected improperly, and in some cases it is only retained for a limited window after the event.
• Photograph everything — the deployed or non-deployed airbag, the steering wheel and dash, any burns or cuts consistent with airbag contact, the interior, and the exterior damage — from multiple angles, before repairs begin.
• Get the police/crash report and keep all medical records that document your injuries and how they relate to airbag contact (or the absence of one).
• Avoid giving a recorded statement to any insurance company — including your own — about how the airbag behaved until you've spoken with a lawyer, since these statements are often used against injured people later.

What to do

1. Get medical care and make sure your treating providers know you suspect an airbag issue (non-deployment, burns, or fragment injuries) so it's documented in your records.
2. Look up your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to check for open airbag-related recalls.
3. Send a written "preservation of evidence" request (sometimes called a spoliation letter) to your insurer, any storage yard, and the other driver's insurer, telling them not to alter, repair, or dispose of the vehicle.
4. Photograph and, if possible, video the vehicle's interior and any injuries before repairs.
5. Ask about the vehicle's Event Data Recorder and whether it can be downloaded by a qualified technician before the car is moved or repaired.
6. Collect the police report, tow records, and any recall or repair history from the dealership.
7. Talk to a product liability or personal injury lawyer promptly — many offer free consultations, and early involvement is often what saves the physical evidence.

Who might be responsible

Depending on the facts, potential defendants can include the vehicle manufacturer, the airbag or inflator manufacturer (a parts supplier, separate from the automaker), a dealership that failed to complete a known recall repair, or occasionally a repair shop that improperly serviced the airbag system. An experienced lawyer will typically bring in an automotive or biomechanical engineer to determine whether the airbag system performed the way it should have.

Fault, settlement, and timing

Most personal injury and product liability cases — including airbag cases — settle before trial. Many states also allow you to recover damages even if you were partly at fault for the crash, under comparative fault rules, though a minority of states apply stricter contributory negligence rules that can bar recovery if you were at fault at all; the details vary by state, so confirm your state's rule with a local lawyer. Product liability and personal injury claims are also subject to strict filing deadlines (statutes of limitation) that vary by state and by claim type, and crashworthiness/product cases sometimes involve additional deadlines tied to when the defect was discovered. Because these deadlines can be short and unforgiving, don't wait to get advice about your specific state's timeline.

If you do settle or win, compensatory damages for a physical injury are generally not taxable under federal law (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(2)), though interest and certain other components of a recovery (such as punitive damages) can be taxable — a tax professional can help sort that out for your specific settlement.

Most personal injury and product liability lawyers work on contingency, commonly around one-third of any recovery, meaning you typically pay nothing upfront and nothing at all if there's no recovery.

Bottom line

An airbag that didn't deploy, deployed too aggressively, or ruptured with shrapnel is not just "bad luck" — it can be the basis of a real legal claim, but only if the evidence survives. Check the recall status of your VIN, get the vehicle and its data preserved before repairs or disposal, document your injuries thoroughly, and talk to a lawyer promptly given the state-specific deadlines involved.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.