What happens when you get hit with an airbag?

After the airbag bursts from the steering wheel and collides with your forward-moving body, your chest area is open to injury. Many drivers have endured broken bones in their chest, and damage to soft tissue. Burn and Laceration Injuries – The speed at which airbag deploys can cause abrasions or burns.

How much force does an airbag hit?

But even as it is filling with nitrogen gas, an airbag is already venting so that when the human body makes contact, it’s not running into the equivalent of a fully inflated Pirelli P7 radial. In fact, the maximum pressure in an airbag is less than 5 psi—even in the middle of a crash event.

What injuries can you get from an airbag?

The most common types of injuries seen in relation to airbags include:

• sprained fingers and wrists or other injuries on the hands.
• eye injuries.
• abrasions and lacerations.
• contusions on various areas of the body such as the chest, arms, face, and legs.
• injuries to body organs, brain injury and head injury.
• internal bleeding.

Can you get hurt from an airbag?

Common types of injuries caused by airbags are: Abrasions to the upper portion of the body, including arms, chest and face. Contusions to arms, knees, chest, face and internal organs. Cervical spine injuries including fractures, strains and blunt force trauma.

At what speed does airbags deploy?

Typically, a front airbag will deploy for unbelted occupants when the crash is the equivalent of an impact into a rigid wall at 10-12 mph. Most airbags will deploy at a higher threshold — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds.

Can an airbag break your wrist?

These bones are delicate and have a higher risk of being fractured or crushed from blunt trauma, which often occurs in car crashes. Fractures in the wrists and hands often occur when these body parts hit things in the car, such as the steering wheel, air bag or windshield.

Can an airbag break your arm?

The excessive force of a malfunctioning airbag has been known to cause, at the very least, sprains to wrists and arms. In more severe situations, it is not uncommon for drivers to suffer fractures and/ breaks in the bones of the hands, wrists and arms.

How many people were killed by airbags?

Defective Takata airbags have been linked to 24 deaths worldwide (17 in the United States) and at least 240 people have reportedly been injured because of a defective Takata airbag as of February 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and media reports.