San Antonio Injury Attorney Blog

Why do we hear about passenger and drivers being ejected out of a vehicle during an accident? What happened - how are they ejected through the car doors?

The answer is simple : the door latches unlatch due to particular inertia forces caused by the accident or a compression of the rod in the door latch as a result of the twisting of the vehicle. Yet a San Antonio and greater Texas personal injury attorney will tell you that door latches are simply not supposed to come unlatched during a car crash. If the door came open when a vehicle went through a rollover or an accident in general, then there is most certainly a design defect in the latch.

Can you believe that the auto industry has known for decades about a solution to keep door latches from unlatching ? The solution is called a Bowden cable - it costs less than $10 and is a suitable substitute for the customary rod in the door latch setup. Manufacturers have also developed door latches that will not be affected by inertia forces.

It is imperative to preserve evidence and consult with the necessary greater San Antonio and Texas legal experts when you or a loved one have suffered devastating injury as a result of being ejected from a vehicle.

Throughout San Antonio and greater Texas, stories abound of deadly vehicle fires, that burn, maim, and ultimately kill drivers and passengers. There are many potential explanations behind vehicle fires. Some of the most common defects include electrical problems, leakage of gasoline from the fuel lines, and the ignition of transmission fluid. A strong Texas auto accident personal injury attorney will be able to pinpoint automotive defects including defective electrical devices, transmissions, and/or ignition switches.

It is a well known fact that the automotive manufacturers do not adequately protect the gas tank, which can inevitably cause the gas tank to be punctured and lead to fuel ignition. An automobile must be designed with effective inertia shutoff devices which stop the flow of fuel druing a crash. Ultimately, vehicle fires are a preventable occurrence if the car is adequately designed.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured by a vehicle fire, consult a Texas personal injury attorney to guide you through the process of preserving evidence and retaining the right experts to defend your claims.

In San Antonio , Texas, and throughout the United States, an interesting problem is occurring - you have your seat belt on as an occupant in a car accident and the official police report says you did not have the seat belt on. You are angry and upset, because you know that you did in fact have your seat belt on. The Texas Department of Public Safety like many states offer specific occupant restraint laws .

Unfortunately, the crash impact can actually cause the seat belt to detach without any evidence of damage. After the accident, the seat belt functions without a problem, and there are no stress signs on the webbing of the belt, plate where the belt latches, and the metal D-ring.

Do not fret - even if a traffic investigation report reflects that the seat belt was not worn, you may in fact have a good seatbelt defect case .

The phenomenon behind seat belt defects lies in the application of G forces created by the crash. The G forces create enough energy to move the buckle with vibration. The vibration can effect the spring that latches the buckle, in effect forcing the button to release the seat belt to move downward. A passenger's hip can also create enough force to unlatch the belt.

The unlatching of the seat belt is known as 'inertia unlatch'. Seatbelts can be designed in such a way that inertia unlatch does not occur - yet, ironically auto manufacturers will not implement these latch designs. During a crash, an occupant can be subject to severe abdominal injuries when their body moves under the lap belt. In addition, some seatbelts do not lock during crashes because of defects in the seat belt retractors.

Even in rollover accidents, investigators will find the retractors on the seat belts will lock and unlock multiple times. The slack in the seat belt caused by defective retractors can be extremely dangerous.

In the course of an investigation of an auto accident in Texas , an expert accident reconstructionist makes mathematical calculations that revolve around a physics concept : the Delta V. The Delta V represents velocity change. To illustrate, imagine your car strikes another object and decelerates from 35 mph to 25 mph. The Delta V is 10 mph.

Air bags generally do not deploy in auto accidents where the Delta V is 14 mph or less. The common misperception is that the air bags should deploy when the vehicle crashes into another object that moves after impact, causing people to believe the Delta V is not great enough to trigger air bag deployment.

In addition, if your vehicle or SUV is involved in a rollover, do not expect the air bag to open. Air bags open and deflate in a fraction of a second - their main function is to protect on the initial impact but they do not provide continuous protection.

Federal Motor Carrier Vehicle Safety Standard 571.208 covers occupant crash protection and air bags.

Do you have an air bag defect case ? There are sensors in the air bags that evaluate crash data and those sensors could be defective. The sensors feed information to an air bag computer that sends signals to the air bag to open. There may be defects in the computer as well. There may also be late deployment of air bags, which may also be attributable to defects.

A proper investigation of a potential air bag defect case requires an accident reconstructionist to evaluate the air bag computer data.