Can an Airbag Cause Chest Injuries?

Yes—airbags are an important safety feature, but they’re not without risk. It’s not uncommon for airbags to cause burns, cuts, and broken bones when they go off.

The good news is that airbags do save lives. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that frontal airbags saved more than 50,000 lives between 1987 and 2017.

How Airbag Injuries to the Chest Happen

To understand how an airbag can cause chest injuries, it helps to know how these devices work, and the role vehicles that predate 2007 play.

How Airbag Deployment Works

Without getting too technical about the process, a car loses speed very quickly when it hits something, and a specific part (an accelerometer) detects this sudden change in speed. If that change is too great—which is important because we don’t want airbags deploying simply because of normal braking—an electric current causes a heating element to ignite an explosive chemical.

As the chemical burns, a massive amount of harmless gas rushes into a nylon bag that is packed in the steering wheel. This happens rapidly, so the bag blows the plastic cover off the steering wheel as it inflates. Finally, the car’s momentum pushes the driver forward against the bag. Small holes along the airbag’s edges then allow the harmless gas to escape as it deflates.

However, airbags in cars from 2007 and earlier work a bit differently. They’re less sophisticated, use more force, and often cause more serious injuries when they deploy. Additionally, modern airbags are tested on more sizes of crash test dummies, seatbelt configurations, and crash speeds, making them more effective at protecting a wide range of drivers and passengers compared to earlier models.

That doesn’t mean modern airbags don’t ever harm people. Even though they’re less forceful than older models, airbags made after 2007 still require a tremendous amount of force to inflate, which can, and do, cause chest injuries and chest pain. And if the airbags are defective, the risk of serious injury increases. Common defects can include defective impact sensors or inflators, manufacturing defects, bad designs, incorrect repairs, and more.

Common Airbag Injuries

• Chest injuries: Chest injuries can include burns, broken bones, rib fractures, chest pain, soft tissue damage, chest wall injury, internal injuries, and cardiac issues.
• Eye injuries: When the force of an inflating airbag injures an eye, it can be damaged to the point of temporary or even permanent blindness.
• Burn injuries: Abrasions and burns can be caused by the tremendous speed at which airbags inflate. In particular, the arms and face are vulnerable to these kinds of serious injuries.
• Face and head injuries: Bones in our faces are relatively delicate and can be broken by inflating airbags. Included with that is the potential for permanent scarring. And head injuries aren’t always only superficial – concussions and traumatic brain injuries also can occur.

So, what do you need to do for insurance claims and personal injury cases when you sustain a serious injury or chest pain due to an airbag?

Can Airbag Friction Cause Burns In Katy, TX Auto Accidents?

When a collision occurs on the bustling roads and highways of Katy, Texas—from the busy stretches of Interstate 10 to the high-volume corridors of Grand Parkway—the deployment of a vehicle’s airbag happens in milliseconds. While airbags are life-saving safety devices engineered to prevent catastrophic head, neck, and chest trauma, the sheer violence and speed of their deployment can introduce secondary injuries. Among the most startling and painful of these secondary injuries are friction burns and chemical burns. Understanding how these injuries occur, who is most at risk, and what legal rights accident victims have in Texas is vital for anyone recovering from a motor vehicle crash.

The Mechanics of Airbag Deployment

To understand why airbags cause burns, it helps to understand the physics of how they operate. When a vehicle suffers a moderate-to-severe impact, crash sensors instantly trigger an inflator system. A rapid chemical reaction—frequently involving sodium azide—generates a massive volume of gas that inflates the nylon fabric cushion in approximately 30 to 50 milliseconds.

This cushion bursts out of the steering wheel, dashboard, or side panels at speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour. This immense velocity, combined with the extreme heat generated by the chemical propellant and the abrasive texture of the rapidly expanding nylon fabric, creates the ideal conditions for severe skin damage upon impact with the driver or passenger.

Types of Airbag-Related Burns

Victims of airbag deployment often sustain two distinct categories of burn injuries:

1. Friction Burns (Abrasions)

Friction burns are mechanical injuries rather than thermal ones. As the nylon bag bursts forward at high speed, it rubs violently against exposed skin, particularly on the hands, forearms, face, and chest. This high-speed friction strips away the outer layers of the skin, producing raw, red wounds that closely resemble heat burns. Drivers with their hands positioned improperly on the steering wheel (such as across the center hub rather than at the traditional nine-and-three or ten-and-two positions) frequently suffer severe friction burns and even degloving injuries to their hands and fingers.

2. Chemical Burns

Chemical burns occur due to the substances used to inflate and deploy the airbag. The rapid deployment releases alkaline chemical residues, including sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), onto the skin and into the air. If these reactive powders make direct contact with sweat or open wounds, they can cause painful chemical irritation and genuine chemical burns. Passengers often notice a strong chemical odor and smoke-like residue immediately following an accident, which is a byproduct of this rapid inflation process.

Common Injury Patterns and Symptoms

Airbag injuries can vary in severity depending on proximity to the deployment zone, seating position, and whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt. Common manifestations include:

• Redness and Blistering: Initial presentation often mimics a severe sunburn, progressing quickly to fluid-filled blisters along the forearms and chest.
• Facial and Ocular Trauma: Because front airbags deploy directly toward the face, eyes can suffer severe irritation, corneal abrasions, and chemical burns from residual powders.
• Respiratory Irritation: Inhaling the aerosolized propellants and cornstarch or talcum lubricants used to pack the airbags can trigger coughing fits, asthma attacks, and chemical irritation of the lungs.

Legal and Medical Considerations in Katy, Texas

If you or a loved one has suffered friction burns or other injuries from an airbag deployment in a Katy auto accident, taking immediate action is critical.

Seek Prompt Medical Evaluation

Even minor-appearing skin abrasions from airbag friction can become easily infected given the presence of chemical residues and vehicle debris. Documenting every injury through a licensed medical professional creates an essential paper trail linking your physical trauma directly to the motor vehicle collision.

Evaluating Liability and Product Defects

In Texas, auto accident claims typically center on driver negligence—such as distracted driving, speeding, or failure to yield on local thoroughfares like Fry Road or Westheimer Parkway. However, if an airbag deploys with excessive force, deploys without a sufficient crash impact, or fails to protect the occupant, a product liability claim against the vehicle manufacturer or parts supplier may also be warranted. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule, meaning you can still recover compensation as long as you are 50% or less at fault for the accident.

Navigating insurance adjusters, medical bills, and complex liability questions requires experienced guidance. Securing local legal representation ensures that critical evidence—such as the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) or “black box” data—is preserved to prove exactly how the collision and subsequent airbag deployment occurred.