Why would an accident victim hit the wind shield twice if her air bag deployed properly?

Question

Fellow Yahooians,

I have a serious question about MVAs. If anyone knows the answer please email me an answer. There is no rush on this, but I would like an answer.

The other day we responded to an MVA. The car rear-ended another at about 35 mph. The passenger was not wearing a seat belt and suffered neck pain and a silver fork fracture of her right wrist. When we looked at the car for MOI (mechanism of injury) we could see the passenger side airbag had been deployed and yet there was starring on the passenger side windshield. As a matter of fact there were two starring patterns. What gives? How could she hit the windshield if the air bag deployed let alone hit the windshield twice!?!

Moe

Answer 1

No seat belt. After she hit the airbag , she bounced back into her seat, then ricochet into the windsheild ,hitting her head. The other impact could have been the dash when the bag deployed-or even something from the backseat.

Honestly don't know for sure......but maybe?

Answer 2

well clearly, since there was no seatbelt worn, she hit before the airbag deployed.

she put her hand up to shield her face and broke her wrist( I've seen that happen, real time...my girlfriend sprained her wrist on a windshield, WITH a seatbelt, no airbag (cars didn't have them in the 60's) broke the windshield) the accident was a rearender, I was driving, my seat came off it's runners (60's VW bug) less than 25 mph, I hit the back of a jacked up Road Runner cause I couldn't hit the brakes. I wound up with my legs pinned under the dash (and if you've seen a really old bug, you know the dashes were HIGH), I broke the key off in the ignition and put my teeth through my lower lip. I had spectactular

bruises on my knees (metal dash)

My friend sprained her wrist and that was all...

The accident was weird...(and everyone knows weird happens all the time.)

Answer 3

in addition to what others said, on a lot of cars, the deploing airbag will break the windsheild, especially on the passenger side

Answer 4

The air bag is not meant to be used without a seat belt. The seat belt holds the person in position so the air bag can protect them. Without the seat belt the person can be thrown forward and hit the windshield then the air bag misses them and as it deflates throws them into the windshield again. Also the fracture of the wrist may have been what caused one of the windshield starings. There have been numerous articles and warnings about the danger of an airbag when not using a seat belt.

Answer 5

Not wearing her seat-belt caused her to hit the glass above the airbag and then was thrown back and then bounced back and struck the glass a second time.

Answer 6

perhaps the airbag delayed enough to cause this scenario...

-impact occurs

-passenger hits windshield

-airbag deploys

-airbag pushes passenger's head back into the windshield?

just a thought

Answer 7

It is only a guess. Perhaps the airbag didn't deploy fast enough and she was already far forward due to her not wearing a seatbelt. She could have gone up and over the airbag.

There are several things that could have caused a second hit. It could have been caused by a can of beans, being hit from the rear, the front car going forward then stopping or the car being jolted back and forth. If the car is going 35 and then hit the front car which goes forward at 20 then brakes and stops, wouldn't that cause two hits?

Answer 8

Mustang..has the best answer so far.

Seat belt, seat belt, seat belt.  Airbags are a "Supplemental Restraint System,", not a primary system.  They assist other safety items in the car, not replace them!

Questions like this are asked and answered all the time here.  There are specific criteria that need to be met to activate a deployment.  Check out this website for the EXACT answers to your questions including the blog specific to your concern. This site tells you exactly what needs to happen for the airbags to deploy and what needs to be replaced (seat belts & all) on over 3500 cars after they do.  

http://www.airbagsolutions.com

http://blog.airbagsolutions.com

http://www.airbagsolutions.com/resources...

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