QUESTION
What can be done if the seat belt didn't lock and the airbag did not deploy?
Asked on Jul 24th, 2014 on Personal Injury - Oregon
More details to this question:
I was involved in a major accident a few years ago where I sideswiped another vehicle. My seat belt didn't lock and airbag didn't deploy. I was partially ejected and sustained severe injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was fine. The vehicle has since been destroyed though I do have about a 100 of photos of the vehicle inside and out from the wrecking yard where it was being stored for a few months after the crash. At this point, is there any option for litigation?
1 ANSWER
Airbag deployment and seat belt locking are designed to be triggered by a front or rear impact like you would experience if you rear-ended another car or drifted off the roadway and hit a tree. The fact that you "sideswiped" another vehicle sounds like there was not enough front-to-back impact to trigger the safety devices. If so, it is hard to see how you could maintain an action for product liability when the defense could argue that their product is not designed for the specific type of impact you experienced. On another point, the statute of limitations for a personal injury case in Oregon is two years from the date of the injury. If a "few years" means more than 24 months, the action would be barred.
Answered on Jul 25th, 2014 at 4:52 PM