Do you have to be wearing the seatbelt in order for an airbage to be deployed/open?

Question

One friend had an accident abroad in UAE and the airbag was not deployed causing a death for his friend can he take the dealer or the Ford company to court ,where to file in UAE or in USA?

Answer 1

Airbags deploy only when they might be needed to prevent serious injury.

Frontal driver and passenger airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal crashes equivalent to hitting a solid barrier at 10-12 mph.

Some manufacturers use different inflation thresholds depending on whether people are using their safety belts.

Thresholds of 10-12 mph typically are used for unbelted occupants, but thresholds are higher — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds.

Answer 2

On the '07 Honda Accord if you don't have at least 65 pounds, I think it is, sitting on the passenger seat a warning light comes on to tell you that the passenger side air bag will not deploy.  It doesn't state anything about the seat belt

Answer 3

Airbags are ONLY a supplementary restraint system, the primary system is the seatbelt. Airbags only deploy when certain impact direction, deceleration criteria are met. They should never be counted on as a primary restraining system.

Answer 4

No. But you should always wear one. Seems to me that the airbag was faulty. Search out recalls on the car to see if that is one of them!

Answer 5

airbags are supplentary to the seat belts, and you can sustain even more injury from the airbag if you do not wear your seatbelt.  ALWAY wear a seat belt.

Answer 6

Air bags are generally deployed from  impact  by sensors around the car. You did not mention how o;d the car was and model. If it was an older car the air bags should of been serviced or replaced based on the manufactures maintenance standards. Some models have a way to turn the air bag off and in the newer models the bag can be controlled bt the weight in the seat and seat belt usage.

I would try to have the cause of accident investigated as well as to why the bag did not deploy.  My friend owned a GM car with onstar and when they received an alert of air bag deployment they vame out to investigate.