Houston Seat Belt/Air Bag Defects Lawyer

When it works properly, the seat belt and the air bag are indisputably the most important safety devices in an automobile. However, when they work poorly or completely fail to work, the seat belt and air bag can cause serious injury and even death.

Thanks in part to public service efforts, such as the "buckle up for safety" campaigns, as well as to mandatory seat belt use laws, Americans now buckle up in record numbers. Most of us believe our families and friends have a good chance of surviving a crash if they are buckled up.  Unfortunately, the seat belt defect attorneys at the Ammons law firm know better.    

Millions of vehicles on the road have defective seat belt systems, these systems are incapable of providing reasonable protection in otherwise survivable accidents. Our seat belt defect attorneys have learned many of these defects have been known to the auto industry for many years.

Each of The Ammons Law Firm seat belt defect attorneys have handled many cases involving rollover-prone SUVs and light trucks.  While investigating these cases our attorneys have learned seat-belt related failures are specific to rollover crashes.  

Testing by our Ammons Law Firm seat belt defects attorneys have shown many current belt systems do not properly hold the occupant in the seat. Excessive movement of the occupant in a rollover can cause serious injury or death by allowing partial ejection of the head and body through the side window.

Seat Belt/Air Bag Defects Case Results

Seat belt in 93 Mazda MX3 unbuckled, spinal injuries
SETTLEMENT Confidential  

SUV Rollover Reveals Defective Seat Belt
SETTLEMENT Confidential

Seat Belt Defect: Rollover Leads to Latch Plate Failure
SETTLEMENT Confidential

Defective Airbag Hits Passenger In Face After Low Speed Impact
RESULTS: SETTLEMENT Confidential

Collapsed Roof and Defective Seatbelt Causes Death
RESULTS: SETTLEMENT Confidential

Seatbelt Buckle Defect and Weak Roof Structure Kills Mother
RESULTS: SETTLEMENT Confidential

Defective Seatbelt in '98 Explorer Causes Teen Permanent Injury
RESULTS: SETTLEMENT Confidential  

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Seat belt defect attorney Rob Ammons talks to CBS news about the new Texas seat belt law mandating seat belts in new school buses.

Common Seat Belt Defects

Our seat belt defects attorneys have discovered some of the more common seat belt defects include:

• Latchplate and Buckle inertial unlatching & false latching: Inertial unlatching occurs when the seat belt becomes unlatched during a collision, allowing the latch plate to pull out of the buckle. Though the auto industry denies that a seat belt can inertially unlatch, recent testing has demonstrated how accident level forces can cause the buckle "pawl" or button to depress and release the latch plate. Millions of vehicles have seat belts that are susceptible to this phenomenon.
  

• Retractor failure: During an accident, the seat belt retractor "locks" the seat belt webbing and holds the occupant in place. When the retractor fails to properly lock, excessive webbing leads out of the retractor and results in seat belt slack. Sometimes as little as a few inches of slack can mean the difference between an injury-free event and catastrophic or fatal injuries. In a frontal collision, for example, a snug shoulder belt should restrain the occupant in the seat and prevent injurious contacts with the steering wheel and windshield. A slack or loosely fitting shoulder belt might allow the occupant to move forward and contact these objects. Retractors can fail to lock because of design defects as well as manufacturing defects. One failure mode of certain "direct drive" retractors is a phenomenon known as "skip-lock" or "skipping" - which occurs when the retractor lock bar hits the tip of a ratchet tooth and bounces away instead of engaging the root of the tooth and locking the webbing. Auto manufacturers vehemently deny that skip-lock can occur, but it has been documented in the literature as well as in General Motors' internal research projects.
  

• False latching: This occurs when the latch plate looks, feels and even sounds like it is latched when inserted into the buckle but is not fully engaged. Minimal amounts of force will cause a falsely latched buckle to completely release the latch plate. When a seat belt is falsely latched or becomes inertially unlatched, the occupant is essentially unbelted and unrestrained and moves as though he or she were never belted in the first place. Such occupants are frequently ejected or found unbelted inside the car.  Though the occupant was properly belted before the seat belt became unlatched, the police report will often list the occupant as being unrestrained. Cases involving inertial unlatching or false latching frequently arise when either a surviving occupant insists he or she was belted or when other occupants confirm that the deceased occupant was wearing a seat belt.
  

• Torn or Ripped Webbing: When the seatbelt tears or is ripped in half during an accident, something has gone terribly wrong. Seat belt webbing is designed to withstand the forces of most survivable collisions without ripping or tearing. Torn or ripped webbing might occur because of a defect or manufacturing flaw in the webbing itself, such as material or weaving deficiencies. Ripped or torn webbing might also be the consequence of some other vehicle defect. Any defect that allows excessive slack or payout of the webbing can cause the belt to be "snap-loaded" - loaded too rapidly, which can sever the webbing. Sharp or protruding edges of vehicle components can also cut through the seat belt.
  

Air Bag Defects
 
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 41,000 people nationwide were killed in car accidents in 2007. Another 2.5 million people in the United States were injured in motor vehicle crashes during this same time period.
 
Manufacturers routinely install air bags in almost all vehicles to improve accident outcomes. Air bags are supposed to make drivers feel safer because they are designed to inflate on impact, keeping drivers from hitting the steering wheel, dashboard or windows. Yet oftentimes manufacturing defects can result in air bags that are dangerous, and even deadly. Faulty air bags can cause injuries such as facial fractures; head, neck and spinal cord damage; blindness; ruptured eyes; burns and severe bruising.
 
At the Ammons Law Firm , our air bag defects attorneys immediately take the steps necessary to help you obtain all of the compensation to which you may be entitled.   When an air bag deploys, it inflates with a force approaching 2,000 lbs. and a speed of up to 200 mph. It is not surprising, then, that injuries often occur when drivers and passengers are seated less than 10 to 12 inches from the steering wheel or dashboard.
 
Ammons Law Firm air bag defects attorneys understand air bags were designed for individuals approximately 5’8” in height and weighing 180 pounds. As a result, air bags pose a substantial hazard to shorter motorists and especially to children. Our airbag defects attorneys are trained to look for the specific problems with airbags that lead to injury.  An air bag may fail to deploy upon impact, deploy with too much force, inflate at the wrong angle, or inflate too slowly.
 
Our air bag defects attorneys can identify problems inherent with many defective airbags.  Airbags sometimes deploy when they should not such as in a very low impact situation or when there is no crash at all.
 
Since air bags were first introduced in 1990, millions of vehicles have been recalled due to air bag defects. As recently as October 2008, Nissan recalled more than 200,000 vehicles after the company discovered a potential air bag sensor problem.
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The Ammons Law Firm air bag defects attorneys have resolved many airbag matters and decide the best strategy for handling your unique case.  Our air bag defects attorneys can help recover money for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, medical bills and lost wages or other financial damages.

News Report on Airbag Deployment Failures.