MARYLAND AUTO/CAR SAFETY ATTORNEYS/LAWYERS CENTER: Airbag Safety System Report

This MARYLAND AUTO/CAR SAFETY ATTORNEYS/LAWYERS CENTER  " Airbag Safety
System Report " is presented as a public service by the Maryland-based national automobile personal injury and wrongful death law firm of Charles Jerome Ware, Attorneys and Counselors, LLC. This information is not intended to be legal advice.  For an initial courtesy consultation, contact us at  www.charlesjeromeware.com,  charlesjeromeware@msn.com,  (410) 730-5016  or  (410) 720-6129.
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Automobile Engineering Expert Witness Discusses Side Airbag Safety System In Car Accident.

This factual scenario involves side airbag safety systems in a double fatality car accident..
The victims were traveling in a 10 year-old truck along a rural highway at 2 a.m. when a vehicle coming in the opposite direction at high speed crossed the center line, striking the driver's side front fender of the truck. The impact caused the truck to lift into the air. The other car then struck the left rear wheel with enough force to dislodge the axle. The truck then flipped onto the driver's side and onto the truck occupants who had been thrown from the driver's window.

Families of the two victims sued the other driver as well as themanufacturer of the truck for negligence and wrongful death.
Against the truck manufacturer, the plaintiffs allege that the ejection of the two victims was the primary cause of the deaths and that they could have been prevented from ejection(and death) if the truck had been equipped with safety features such as a side curtain air bag and window glazing, both of which were available as early as five years before the truck was manufactured.  The family of of the passenger victim also sued the truck driver for negligence, as he had been drinking and could have avoided the deadly collision.

Questions for the Expert Witness:

1. Did similar vehicles at the time incorporate side curtain airbags ?     Answer : Yes.
2. Could the truck in this case have included such a safety feature ?      Answer :  Yes.

ANSWERS:
With a comparison having been done of other vehicles by other manufacturers with similar pillar and roof structures, this automobile engineering expert concludes there is no reason that the vehicle at issue could not have been equipped with a side airbag inflatable curtain (SABIC) system. Other vehicles produced by the truck manufacturer were equipped with an  inflatable tubular stricter (ITS)
system.

Testing on those vehicles two years before the truck in this case was produced documented the ejection mitigation value of the ITS.  The testing was performed with unrestrained occupants.  There were no ejections in the roll-over testing.  Computer modeling demonstrated without the ITS system, the occupants would have been ejected.  This confirms that this ITS system could have been installed on the subject truck, was tested, and proven to prevent the ejection of unrestrained occupants in a similar platform.
[ www.theexpertinstitute.com/case-studies/automobile-engineering/May 19, 2014/Morgenstern]