Recovering Damages After an Airbag Deployment Concussion

People associate concussions with traffic accidents and other events that cause them to bump their heads or for something to hit their heads. Yet, sometimes concussions occur for less obvious reasons. Airbag deployment after a negligent driver causes a car accident can lead to a concussion. Even worse, some accident victims might not realize they have a concussion for hours or days after the injury occurred.

Below we take a closer look at concussions, the mechanics of airbags, and how a deployed airbag causes a concussion in a traffic accident. Our experienced brain injury lawyers also provide information about the signs and symptoms of a concussion and the complications they cause. Finally, we discuss damages related to suffering a concussion in a car accident and the legal process of recovering them after a negligent driver causes your airbag to deploy.

What Is a Concussion?

A concussion defined is a form of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occurs due to direct and indirect head traumas. Many doctors refer to concussions as mild TBIs because they are not typically fatal. However, concussions can have long-term effects that complicate life for victims.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define a concussion as a type of TBI “caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or hit to the body.” When this occurs, the head moves rapidly, causing the brain to move inside the skull. This movement can stretch and damage brain cells and create chemical changes in the brain.

How Do Airbags Work?

An airbag is a safety feature made of thin nylon in modern vehicles that protect drivers and occupants during a crash. Each airbag in a vehicle has an impact sensor that deploys the airbag when it detects a collision. Specifically, the sensor detects rapid deceleration and initiates the deployment of the airbag.

During deployment, the mechanism inside the airbag fills it with nitrogen gas to inflate the bag, which rapidly deflates once someone’s body makes contact with the airbag. According to CarsDirect, airbags deploy in about a half of a second, which translates to almost 200 miles per hour.

How Do You Know You Have a Concussion?

After a minor traffic accident, many victims walk away seemingly unscathed, even if their airbags are deployed. They might have a few bumps and bruises and feel some soreness, but they opt to deny medical treatment at the accident scene and do not go to the nearest emergency room for treatment. They assume that they do not have any serious injuries because they never lost consciousness or were traveling at a low speed.

Concussions often fall under the umbrella of “delayed injuries.” It can take a few hours or even a few days before someone starts to experience symptoms.

If you have recently been in a car accident and your airbag deployed, symptoms that might suggest you have a concussion include:

• Ongoing headache
• Temporary loss of consciousness
• Disorientation or confusion
• Amnesia about the car accident
• Dizziness or fogginess
• Loss of balance
• Blurred vision
• Sensitivity to light
• Slurred speech
• Ringing in the ears
• Nausea or vomiting
• Fatigue and difficulty waking

Confirming Your Concussion With a Doctor

The symptoms above strongly suggest someone could have a concussion, especially if they experience two or more of them. It’s in your best interest to visit a doctor anytime you are involved in a car accident. Concussions are not the only serious injuries that sometimes do not immediately show symptoms. Make your health and well-being your top priority.

If you were recently in a traffic accident, your airbag deployed, and you suffer from any of the symptoms above, you should go to the nearest emergency room to get checked out by a physician. They may require you to get a CT and/or MRI to diagnose a concussion. Yet, sometimes concussions do not show up on these scans, so the treating physician must perform a battery of other neurological tests to diagnose.

Confirming a concussion with a doctor is important for two main reasons. First, some untreated concussions can lead to brain swelling or hematomas, the medical word for a brain bleed. Typically, doctors do not do anything for a concussion. Only time heals the wound if someone completely recovers. However, if the doctor finds other complications, they can treat them and prevent further damage or death.

Second, if the airbag deployment that led to your injury occurred because of a negligent driver, you need documented injuries to sue for damages. Having your concussion as a permanent part of your medical record ensures your attorney has the leverage to negotiate a settlement and evidence for a court, if necessary. Medical documentation makes it difficult for the negligent driver’s insurance company to argue that you had a preexisting injury.

Long-term Complications of Concussions

Some concussions can have life-changing, long-term complications.

Examples of struggles you might face long after an airbag deployment concussion include:

• Struggles with concentration and focus
• Difficulty with short-term memory
• Ongoing sensitivity to loud sounds and light
• Trouble with sleeping too much or falling asleep
• Mood and personality changes
• Depression
• Challenges with taste and smell

These post-concussive symptoms can last for months, years, or decades, and impact someone’s life in multiple ways, which is why it is necessary to let a doctor examine you and prevent further brain damage after an airbag deployment concussion. Four areas where the long-term effects of a concussion can be life-changing include:

Job Performance

Performing most job tasks require attention, focus, and physical coordination. A concussion impairs these functions, making it difficult for someone to do their job. Untreated airbag deployment concussions or serious concussions that do not heal completely can lead to lower work productivity, long periods away from work, demotion, and possibly termination.

Relationships

Many of the long-term complications of a concussion can impact social and professional relationships. Chronic headaches and dizziness force people to stay home and avoid socialization, damaging their relationships. However, the emotional and behavioral changes that sometimes come with a concussion can be worse. Increased aggression and social inappropriateness stemming from brain damage can end friendships and cause great emotional pain to loved ones.

Mental Health

Severe concussions can stretch and permanently damage brain cells, which changes someone’s brain chemistry.

A change in brain chemistry can lead to various mental health struggles, including, but not limited to:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

These mental health struggles are also heavily linked with damage to relationships and poor job performance, making it even more important to seek treatment for a concussion after an airbag deployed in a car accident.

Physical Ability

Concussion victims face a wide array of ongoing physical complications. We mentioned some above, but they also include heart problems, digestive problems, and seizures. Additionally, once someone suffers one concussion, they are more prone to suffer another concussion in future head traumas. This is especially true when someone has another trauma before their concussion heals.

Airbag Deployment Concussions in Children

All things being equal, concussions are more dangerous for children than adults. The human brain is not fully developed until after age 20, so brain damage from a concussion can cause developmental problems for young children and infants. In most car accident situations, your infant or young child will be seated in such a way that airbag deployment will not impact them. However, this is not always the case, especially if you have multiple children in your vehicle and cannot disengage your airbags.

The most difficult part of your infant or toddler suffering a concussion is that it’s much harder to detect. They do not have the words to communicate symptoms as teens or adults do. Not only do you immediately have to get your child to a doctor after a car accident, especially if they came in contact with an airbag, but you need to continuously watch for other symptoms for months after the accident.

Things that suggest your child might have suffered a concussion include:

• Excessive crying
• Changes in behavior
• Changes in mood
• Changes in how much and how often they eat
• Changes in the way they sleep
• A loss of interest in their favorite toys and activities
• A loss of balance, especially difficult to notice in toddlers who already struggle with balance
• A loss of recently developed skills

Also, you might not notice your child suffered a concussion until they miss one or more developmental milestones. Permanent brain damage from the concussion could impact walking, talking, reading, writing, and more.

Fortunately, you can take legal action on behalf of your child to recover damages and ensure they get the proper care to help them overcome any developmental struggles related to an airbag deployment concussion.

Damages in Traffic Accident Concussion Cases

If a negligent driver is responsible for the accident that led to your airbag deployment concussion, Florida law permits you to sue the driver for damages in civil court once you have exhausted your mandatory Florida personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. Personal injury lawsuits include compensation for economic and non-economic damages related to your concussion.

Examples of damages commonly included in a settlement agreement or jury award include compensation for:

• Medical treatment costs, including ambulance service, emergency room treatment, MRI, CT scan, other diagnostic testing, hospitalization, follow-up doctor visits, and transportation to and from those visits
• Estimated future medical expenses for concussion victims who need ongoing treatment or therapy to deal with their physical and emotional struggles related to suffering a concussion
• Specialized treatment, such as speech therapy, behavioral therapy, or
• Lost wages for missing work due to the accident, hospitalization, and recovery
• Estimated future lost wages when a concussion prevents someone from doing their job and returning to work because of permanent brain damage
• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of consortium with a spouse if applicable
• Reduced quality of life

Traffic accident victims sometimes receive punitive damages when the at-fault driver willfully caused an accident or acted with gross negligence. The court awards punitive damages to punish the defendant for their behavior and deter them from behaving the same way in the future.

Holding Negligent Drivers Accountable for Your Airbag Deployment Concussion

The best way to hold the negligent driver accountable for your airbag deployment concussion is to consult an experienced car accident injury attorney who will help you through the claims process.

You need to file a claim under your mandatory Florida PIP no-fault insurance, but the required minimum coverage of $10,000 does not go very far to cover medical expenses and lost wages. Once you’ve exhausted your PIP benefits, a skilled car accident injury lawyer can help you step outside the state’s no-fault insurance system and file a claim and possibly a lawsuit against the negligent driver.

Concussion injury cases come with special challenges because they can be difficult to detect, and sometimes victims do not immediately discover their injury. An experienced lawyer understands how to prove your concussion injury and advocate for you throughout the claims process, so the insurance company doesn’t get away with denying your claim or giving you a lowball settlement offer.

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