Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyers Blog

The introduction of airbags in passenger vehicles was seen as a new era in passenger safety. Cars with them were considered far safer than those without. This additional safety precaution was designed to ensure the safety of the driver, in conjunction with a seatbelt. On impact it is designed to deploy, the bag filling with air, cushioning the driver as they are thrown forward. However, there have been many problems associated with the airbag due to defects in manufacturing.

An airbag accident lawyer at our law firm has written this information to help clients who have been injured by defective or faulty airbags and who are considering filing an airbag accident lawsuit.

What are the problems associated with airbags?

• Deploying when they should not


• Deploying with too much force


• Deploying too slowly


• Deploying in low speed accidents


• Failing to deploy at all

Children and people with smaller statures and frames are particularly vulnerable to faulty airbag related injuries. Manufacturers contend that it is the consumer that tends to be at fault as they either sit too close to the steering wheel or do not wear a seatbelt. However, the following list of recalls that have occurred over the last few years speaks volumes:

• 2000 GM recalled 224,000 Cadillac Devilles to replace faulty side impact sensors, which would cause the airbags to needlessly deploy.


• 2001 Chrysler recalled 216,000 pickup trucks because of problems with drivers airbags


• 2003 Ford recalled 43,000 Lincoln Continentals because they may have deployed accidentally


• 2005 Hyundai recalled 240,000 Elantras due to airbag issues


• 2005 Kia recalled 73,000 Spectras for similar problems


• 2005 Honda recalled 85,000 minivans due to water leaking into the internal sensors, causing corrosion, which would have led to late deployment or complete failure

These are not the only vehicles with airbag problems, but are ones that have actually gone through a manufacture recall.

Airbag Deployment

Federal standards require that new cars be equipped with airbags, and that's a good thing. Airbags can help prevent injury. However, proper airbag deployment is essential. Airbags feature sensors that make them deploy depending on the speed and angle of the collision. Defective airbags may deploy at below-normal speeds or fail to deploy at the proper speed or angle. This improper airbag deployment can actually cause worse injuries than if the airbag had not deployed at all. Any number of flaws can cause defective airbags to fail. If you have a question about an air bag deployment, please contact our crashworthiness attorneys.

Airbag failure to deploy, defective airbags, or improper airbag deployment can cause serious eye injuries and permanent damage. In some cases partial (or even total) blindness has resulted. Many of these injuries occur due to direct contact with the deploying airbag (while it is still in a ball) or from impact with particles at a high speed that are released during (projected by the) airbag deployment. In response to this, it is necessary that research be conducted using crash dummies with "eye ball models" in order determine how these injuries are occurring and what can be done to prevent injury by proper airbag deployment angles and design of the airbag shape.

In addition, the age and size of the vehicle occupants can have a significant impact on injury profiles, including deasths caused by airbags. For example, a recent study showed that teenage occupants should stay out of the front seat of cars equiped with airbags, unless they are large enough to actually be driving behind the wheel of the car. Furthermore, car seats should NEVER be positioned facing an airbag in the front seat, as this could cause severe injury to an infant in a front seat positioned child seat. Children who are under the age of 15 are at a significantly high risk for fatal or at least serious injury from air bags when those children are seated in the front passenger seat during car crashes. In those cases, the airbag fails to protect the occupant and can even injure the occupant.

Injuries sustained by defective airbags

Surprisingly, one of the most common types of injury is that to the eyes, even in relatively minor accidents blindness has occurred due to a defective airbag. Other injuries to the eye include bruising to the socket and the eyeball rupturing.

Other injuries include but are not limited to:

• Chest injuries (often ending in fatality)


• Burns


• Bruising


• Spinal Cord Injury


• Death

Continue reading "Information about Defective Airbags" »

Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for children ages five to fourteen according to the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The importance of safety seats

Without proper safety restraints or because of a child safety seat failure, children can be severely injured or killed during a collision. This can be caused by coming into contact with the vehicle interior or from being ejected from the vehicle.

The NHTSA has stated that safety restraints should be used for all children until they are eight years old, or reach a height of 4'9". This is because the safety features of automobiles are designed for adults, leaving children vulnerable.

Safety seats are necessary for the survival of infants and children in the case of an accident, but a child safety seat failure may cause further injury and death.
Safety seat defects

An experienced car seat lawyer knows that problems exist with some child safety seat designs. The failure of a safety seat due to poor design and construction will not properly protect a child and can lead to serious lifelong injuries or wrongful death. Possible defects in safety seat design or construction may result in:

• Shoulder straps that unclip or loosen, resulting in ejection


• Poor pelvic protection, which causes the child to slide down


• The inability for the safety belt to hold the safety seat in place


• Cracking of plastic parts


• Separation of the infant carrier from its mounting base


• Inadequate head protection


• A buckle that can release during an impact

Possible results from defective safety seats

Defective safety seats have the potential to cause injury that could have been easily prevented. Infants and children may suffer from brain damage, spinal and neck injury, paralysis, loss of limbs and death due to defective safety seats.

Continue reading "Important Information on the Failure of a Child Safety Seat" »

Burn injuries rank amongst the most painful experiences that can be endured. This is because when a burn occurs to the skin, nerve endings are damaged causing intense feelings of pain, panic, and shock. Every year, millions of people receive burns in one way or another, and many of these burns are completely avoidable as they resulted from defective products and unsafe environments. Of those burned, thousands die, and many more require lengthy treatment and hospitalization. Burns are currently ranked third, (behind automobile crashes and falls) as a leading causes of accidental death in the United States.

Aside from the burn injury itself, many other bodily functions can be impaired as a result of a severe burn. Burns affect bones, muscles, the nervous system, and the respiratory system. In addition to the physical injuries caused by burns, victims often suffer from the emotional and psychological problems that accompany the disfiguring injuries and scarring that result from severe burns.

Categories of Burns

Burns can be characterized by their source, and are commonly classified in the following manner:

Thermal burns

Thermal burns are one of the most common types of burns, and often result from an individual coming into contact with a fire, a flame, or extreme heat. These burns regularly occur from residential fires, automobile accidents (including fuel-fed fires), stoves, generators, space heaters, and improperly stored fuel including gasoline, butane, kerosene, and propane.

Chemical burns

Although rarer than thermal burns, chemical burns have the ability to cause significant tissue, nerve, and muscle damage. These burns usually result from an individual being exposed to strong acid or bases (alkali), such as batteries, bleaches, polishes, ammonia, toilet bowl cleaners, oven cleaners, lye, and cement mixtures.

Electrical burns

Electrical burns occur when an electrical current from an external source runs through a person's body, with heat measuring up to 5,000 degrees Celsius. These external sources can include faulty electrical equipment such as improperly placed power lines and defective circuit breakers, as well as defective electronic products including washing machines, dryers, power-washers, kitchen appliances, and hair-dryers. If the burn victim survives the electrical shock, the extreme heat generated from the electricity will often cause massive nerve and tissue damage.

Burn Injuries

Burn injuries rank amongst the most painful experiences that can be endured. This is because when a burn occurs to the skin, nerve endings are damaged causing intense feelings of pain, panic, and shock. Every year, millions of people receive burns in one way or another, and many of these burns are completely avoidable as they resulted from defective products and unsafe environments. Of those burned, thousands die, and many more require lengthy treatment and hospitalization. Burns are currently ranked third, (behind automobile crashes and falls) as a leading causes of accidental death in the United States.

Aside from the burn injury itself, many other bodily functions can be impaired as a result of a severe burn. Burns affect bones, muscles, the nervous system, and the respiratory system. In addition to the physical injuries caused by burns, victims often suffer from the emotional and psychological problems that accompany the disfiguring injuries and scarring that result from severe burns.

Categories of Burns

Burns can be characterized by their source, and are commonly classified in the following manner:

Thermal burns

Thermal burns are one of the most common types of burns, and often result from an individual coming into contact with a fire, a flame, or extreme heat. These burns regularly occur from residential fires, automobile accidents (including fuel-fed fires), stoves, generators, space heaters, and improperly stored fuel including gasoline, butane, kerosene, and propane.

Chemical burns

Although rarer than thermal burns, chemical burns have the ability to cause significant tissue, nerve, and muscle damage. These burns usually result from an individual being exposed to strong acid or bases (alkali), such as batteries, bleaches, polishes, ammonia, toilet bowl cleaners, oven cleaners, lye, and cement mixtures.

Electrical burns

Electrical burns occur when an electrical current from an external source runs through a person's body, with heat measuring up to 5,000 degrees Celsius. These external sources can include faulty electrical equipment such as improperly placed power lines and defective circuit breakers, as well as defective electronic products including washing machines, dryers, power-washers, kitchen appliances, and hair-dryers. If the burn victim survives the electrical shock, the extreme heat generated from the electricity will often cause massive nerve and tissue damage.

Severity of Burns

Thermal burns, chemical burns, and electrical burns are also commonly classified by their severity, which comes in three (3) distinct degrees:

First degree burns are the most common type of burn injury. This involves only the top layer of skin and is characterized by pain, redness, and swelling. Sunburn is a typical first degree burn.

Second degree burns involve the first and second layer of skin. They are characterized by blistering of the skin, redness, and swelling and are very painful.

Third degree burns are catastrophic, life-threatening injuries. Third degree burn victims typically exhibit charring of the skin, with damage to underlying ligaments, tendons and muscle. These types of burns may eventually become painless, due to the destruction of nerve endings in and around the burned area. Third degree burns can prove fatal if the affected area is significantly large.

Burns are one of the most expensive injuries to treat with the patient having to undergo painful skin grafts and long-term therapy, often taking place in a major hospital's burn unit. Burns covering just 30% of a person's body can cost in excess of $200,000 in hospital and physician costs.

Continue reading "Burn Injuries" »

Since the inception of the 15-passenger van, the propensity of these vehicle to rollover has been recognized. Studies conducted by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have shown that the risk of rollover increases significantly when the van is loaded with passengers.

NHTSA showed that 15-passenger vans with more than nine passengers are three times more likely to rollover then vans with less than five passengers.

Why 15-passenger vans rollover

The propensity of the 15-passenger van to rollover is caused by the design of the van. 15-passenger vans tend to be unstable due to their high centers of gravity. When the van is loaded with passengers, the center of gravity is raised even higher and shifted towards the rear of the van.

The high center of gravity leaves a 15-passenger van vulnerable to a rollover accident when the driver takes emergency evasive maneuvers to avoid an obstacle. Rollovers can also occur during a sudden tire-blow out.

Why 15 passenger van rollovers can be extremely dangerous

15 passenger van rollovers tend to be lethal due to the lack of a number of safety features, such as a strong roof support system and laminated windows. An experienced 15-passenger van accident attorney at our law firm knows that a stronger roof support system, such as the addition of a roll bar, would help prevent roof collapse - a significant cause of fatal injury in 15-passenger van rollovers.

Additionally, 15-passenger vans routinely lack common safety equipment found in many passenger vehicles. Unlike many SUVs and passenger cars, 15-passenger vans lack curtain airbags, seat belt pretentioners, electronic stability control (ESC), and rollover sensors.

A 15 passenger van lawyer at Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, PC is aware that multiple warnings have been given by the NHTSA regarding the safety hazards associated with 15-passenger vans. The design flaws of 15-passenger vans have been associated with fatal and significant injuries because these defects in design mean that 15-passenger vans are not crashworthy vehicles.

15-passenger vans are:

• Prone to loss of control and rollover


• Unstable when loaded with passengers and/or cargo


• Not crashworthy

Continue reading "Information on 15-Passenger Van Accidents" »