Texas Woman Sues Ford, Local Dealership Over Airbag Injuries

Pleasanton, TXWhile all eyes are currently on the GM debacle over ignition switches and airbags, there are other airbag lawsuits looming that accuse other manufacturers of defective products and design, leading to personal injury.

Case in point is an airbag injuries lawsuit filed last month in Jefferson County District Court. Plaintiff Elizabeth Jaeger, citing strict tort liability, is seeking compensation from defendants Ford Motor Company and Kinsel Ford-Mercury Inc., after airbag(s) failed to deploy when Jaeger’s Ford Escape hit a utility pole.

According to the Southeast Texas Record (4/9/14), the plaintiff was piloting her 2005 Ford Escape on March 12, 2013 when her vehicle came into collision with an Entergy electric pole, according to the report. In such a collision with a fixed, inanimate object, one would expect airbags to deploy, protecting the occupant(s) inside.

However, according to court documents, that didn’t happen. “Plaintiff’s airbag failed to deploy, causing severe airbag injuries to the plaintiff,” the suit states.

There are various airbags positioned throughout most modern vehicles, designed to protect occupants in the event of a collision. Initially, airbags were only available to the driver and front seat passenger(s), in order to prevent injury from frontal collisions.

However, in later years, manufacturers - partly due to increased safety and also as a marketing ploy, according to pundits - began to augment the frontal airbags with side airbags and curtain airbags, in an effort to shield occupants from injuries from the side (such as the so-called “T-bone” collision), or injuries that might be sustained in the event of a rollover. Manufacturers would also market their vehicles as offering more safety features than a competitor.

The defective airbags lawsuit did not spell out which airbags were at fault. Court records did indicate, however, that “Plaintiff would further show that the subject vehicle and/or airbags were defective and/or unreasonably dangerous...and was a producing cause of the injuries sustained by plaintiff in the collision.”

Jaeger accuses Ford of negligence in the design and manufacture of the vehicle in which she sustained airbag injuries. The plaintiff further accuses Ford of manufacturing a vehicle that was not sufficiently crashworthy to avoid injury.

Jaeger is seeking compensation for medical expenses, loss of earnings, physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, physical disfigurement and mental impairment. Given an accusation of malice and gross negligence, Jaeger holds that she is entitled to punitive or exemplary damages. In addition to other claims in her airbag failure lawsuit, Jaeger is seeking interest, attorney’s fees, costs and other equitable relief.

Defective airbags have been known to fail in a variety of ways. Some fail to deploy when they should - and according to how they are designed - as the result of an impact sufficiently serious in nature as to trigger sensors that release the airbags and cause them to deploy. Airbags are designed not to deploy during minor “bumps,” such as if the driver lightly taps the back of the garage with the front bumper when parking the car.

However, in cases of defective airbags, there have been examples where airbags have been known to deploy within the context of a minor “tap” as detailed above, or in the absence of any appreciable impact at all.

Airbag failure that results in the unannounced and inappropriate deployment of airbags can also result in grievous injury or death. Airbags that fail to deploy, or deploy inappropriately, can be subject to an airbag recall and can result in airbag lawsuits.

The aforementioned lawsuit is Case No. E195-536 and was filed March 27, 2014 in Jefferson Country District Court.