How do insurance rules and various laws affect airbags. (vehicle, air bag, replace)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is an accident involving say two cars. Serious injuries in both vehicles. One has airbags and they were turned on and did open upon impact. The other driver had airbags but never turned the switch on.
How do the laws on airbags affect how insurance companies view injuries resulting from a driver who failed to have their airbags turned on?
There is an accident involving say two cars. Serious injuries in both vehicles. One has airbags and they were turned on and did open upon impact. The other driver had airbags but never turned the switch on.
How do the laws on airbags affect how insurance companies view injuries resulting from a driver who failed to have their airbags turned on?
This would be irrelevant in most states. The question is which driver was negligent and caused the accident. Its not what caused the injury.
There is a doctrine in tort law known as "mitigation of damages". If you can show that someone failed to take action after an injury occurred to properly care for that injury or receive prompt medical attention than that person can have his recovery reduced. However, this applies to actions that occur after an accident and injury--not before.
That being said there may be some state somewhere that would treat this issue differently. The vast majority would treat it the way that I just described.
The other issue here is you don't turn airbags "on". There's no switch, setting, etc to enable them. They're just there. If a driver willingly disables the airbags by pulling the fuse, wiring, etc, then he's mostly out of luck regardless. At worst, cars have a sensor in the passenger seat that will enable/disable the airbag based on weight, but that's about it. Still automatic.
The other issue here is you don't turn airbags "on". There's no switch, setting, etc to enable them. They're just there.
No, on our vehicle there is a place on the dashboard to enter the key and turn the airbags on or leave them off. Also, under the front bumper of our vehicle are the airbag sensors. Two or three fingers and you can disconnect the wires to the sensors. So, our vehicle has two ways to turn airbags off.
I was curious about the consequences of someone having airbags and leaving them off. They have an accident but they are not at fault but severely injured. The insurance company balks on paying all the medical bills because the driver contributed to their injuries by not having the airbags on.
If airbags are like seat belts and are "up to the driver and passengers to decide to use them or not" then maybe insurance companies would pay medical bills and don't care that their liability was greater because airbags not turned on.
Why would someone leave them off? They are fairly expensive to replace by the dealer. Someone with a $1500 vehicle may not want to take a chance of a bumper bender, the airbags deploy, and now they have to spend thousands.
The total cost for professionally replacing airbags that deployed in a collision can be $1,000-$6,000 or more but averages about $3,000-$5,000, depending on the year, make and model of vehicle; the number and location of the air bags; and the related parts that need replacing.
That article does have quite lower cost but then people might wonder if the cheapo replaced airbags will work when they need them next time.
And cars with deployed bags can be declared totaled as that article explains.
As MarkG91359 stated it's irrelevant if they are turned on or off. Insurance companies do care how one was hurt, but they care more about who was at fault. Most cars can not turn off the airbags, but there is usually a way to disable them anyway. It is fact that airbags can do more harm than good if deployed and hit a person under 5 feet. Due to this, some may disable them. Nonetheless, if a person is injured, the insurance company will still pay the claim.
Also, a lot of insurance companies now have coverage that will replace the air bag if deployed. Some companies automatically cover this, others it's an optional coverage.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,550 posts, read 81,117,303 times
Reputation: 57750
The NHTSA has regulations on this, and there is a process with documentation require for legally installing an on/off switch. Failure to follow their requirements makes it illegal, as is removal or disabling of any factory installed safety device. Violation of this federal law does affect the decision by insurers to cover injuries.
The NHTSA has regulations on this, and there is a process with documentation require for legally installing an on/off switch. Failure to follow their requirements makes it illegal, as is removal or disabling of any factory installed safety device. Violation of this federal law does affect the decision by insurers to cover injuries.
Cite some authority for the proposition that "violation of the law affects the decision by insurers to cover injuries".
We have a law in my state requiring vehicle occupants to wear seat belts. The penalty for violating that law is a monetary fine. The statute specifically says it has no bearing on a claim for compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. The reason is that not wearing your seat belt has no bearing on causing an accident the first place.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
