Legal Aspects of Airbag Injuries: Know Your Rights

Airbag injuries should not happen. Your airbags should deploy properly in the event of a crash, and they should do their job of protecting you as much as possible. While airbags won’t necessarily prevent all injuries during a collision, they shouldn’t cause injuries, and you shouldn’t suffer injuries due to airbag failures.

But airbag injuries do happen—and they happen with alarming frequency. If you have suffered an airbag injury, what are your legal rights? Keep reading to find out from an experienced airbag injury lawyer.

These Are Your Legal Rights After an Airbag Injury

As an accident victim, understanding your legal rights is extremely important. Here is an overview of your legal rights after you suffer an airbag-related injury:

1. You Have the Right to Know What Happened

When you get injured by an airbag, you have the right to know exactly what happened. This means that you can—and should—hire an airbag injury lawyer to conduct an investigation. An experienced lawyer will be able to gather all of the evidence needed to determine if you have a claim for financial compensation. This may include not only evidence from the scene of the accident and the inside of your vehicle, but records obtained from the airbag manufacturer and your vehicle’s manufacturer as well.

Unfortunately, millions of vehicles currently on U.S. roads have defective airbags. This includes defective airbags manufactured by Takata and ARC. We handle cases involving airbags manufactured by both of these companies, and we are intimately familiar with the safety hazards that their defective airbags present for drivers and passengers.

2. You Have the Right to Get the Treatment You Need

As the victim of an airbag defect, you have the right to get all of the medical treatment you need. You can—and should—go to a medical provider of your own choosing. If you have health insurance or auto insurance (or both), you can use your coverage for the time being, and if your airbag injury claim is successful, your lawyer will be able to help make sure that your healthcare providers and insurers get reimbursed appropriately.

Airbag injuries can take many different forms, and they can have many different effects. As a result, prompt diagnosis and treatment are critical. While it is important that you speak with an airbag injury lawyer as soon as possible, it is even more important to prioritize your medical needs.

3. You Have the Right to Hold the Manufacturer Accountable

Regardless of the injuries you suffered, you have the right to hold the manufacturer accountable. This could be the manufacturer of the defective airbag, or it could be the manufacturer of your vehicle. Automotive manufacturers are responsible for the components that they choose to install in their cars, trucks and SUVs. As a result, even if your vehicle had a Takata or ARC airbag, your vehicle’s manufacturer could still be fully liable for the costs of your airbag injuries.

Of course, no manufacturer is voluntarily going to pay what it owes. Instead, it is up to you to assert your legal rights effectively. The first step in this process is hiring an airbag injury lawyer to collect the evidence needed to prove the manufacturer’s liability.

4. You Have the Right to File an Insurance Claim

Airbag manufacturers and automotive manufacturers have liability insurance that covers airbag-related claims. As a result, in most cases, recovering just compensation for airbag injuries involves dealing with insurance companies. An experienced airbag injury lawyer will be able to determine which insurance company (or companies) to contact and deal with the insurance adjusters and defense lawyers on your behalf.

Depending on your coverage, you may be able to file a claim under your auto insurance policy as well. For example, if you have personal injury protection (PIP) or medical payments (MedPay) coverage, you may be able to use this to help cover your expenses in the short term. Your lawyer will be able to assist here, too, and will be able to help ensure that the right companies pay for your injuries.

5. You Have the Right to Go to Court if Necessary

While recovering your losses will most likely involve dealing with the insurance companies, you also have the right to go to court if necessary. If the insurance companies refuse to pay the full compensation you deserve, you can—and should—rely on your airbag injury lawyer to take them to court.

When choosing a lawyer, it is important to choose someone who has a track record of success in the courtroom. If the insurance companies know that your lawyer isn’t prepared to go to trial, they will use this to their advantage during the settlement negotiation process.

6. You Have the Right to Collect Just Compensation

Regardless of what it takes to assert your legal rights, you are entitled to just compensation for all of the costs of your airbag-related injuries. This includes not only your financial costs but your non-financial costs as well. For example, many airbag injury victims experience significant pain and suffering—and the compensation you receive for your pain and suffering could account for the largest portion of your claim.

7. You Have the Right to Hire an Airbag Injury Lawyer at No Out-of-Pocket Cost

Finally, you have the right to hire an airbag injury lawyer at no out-of-pocket cost. Dealing with airbag-related injuries can be hard enough without trying to figure out how you are going to pay for your legal representation.

Our firm handles all airbag injury claims on a contingency fee basis. This means that our clients pay nothing unless we win. When you choose our firm to represent you, you will pay nothing out of pocket, and you will pay nothing at all unless we help you recover just compensation.

Schedule a Free Consultation with an Experienced Airbag Injury Lawyer

Do you need to know more about your legal rights after suffering an airbag injury? If so, we invite you to get in touch. Call us or contact us online now to schedule a free consultation.