San Antonio Injury Attorney Blog
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVYpA-TPgaY