When a car accident occurs, airbags usually come out rapidly, but how fast do they actually deploy? Motor vehicles brought ease and speed to transportation. However, these benefits also came with disadvantages. The fast speed at which most cars can drive is a significant cause of accidents worldwide. Fortunately, vehicle manufacturers haven’t sat back as their innovations destroyed lives. Instead, they developed mechanisms that can check the danger of speed in vehicles.

Two of such accident-reducing mechanisms are seatbelts and airbags. That’s why many accident analyses often include how both instruments could reduce accident fatalities. So, it’s essential to know how quickly airbags can deploy to save you in an accident. Moreover, if you’re ever in an accident in Maryland, it’ll be best to call a car accident attorney. An experienced car accident lawyer can help you get compensation for your injuries.

What Are Airbags?

Airbags are inflatable cushions installed in vehicles to protect their occupants. An airbag will prevent the car passengers from hitting the car’s interior during an accident. In addition, an airbag will guarantee that passengers don’t also hit objects outside, including other vehicles and trees.

Car manufacturers design airbags to work with seat belts. So, it would be best to use both together. Furthermore, airbags can cause you injuries if you don’t sit properly within the vehicle. This would mean that you shouldn’t sit too close to the airbag.

The force with which the airbag is deployed can injure anyone close to the airbag. Similarly, children below thirteen years should stay in the back seat for their safety. Finally, drivers should sit at least 10 inches away from the steering wheel’s center.

Types of Airbags

Frontal and side airbags are the most common types of airbags. However, there are various other innovations, including:

• Knee airbags
• Inflatable seat belts
• Rear seat airbag
• Farside airbag
• Panoramic sunroof airbag
• Motorcycle airbags

How Fast Do Airbags Deploy?

Once an accident starts, airbag sensors begin calculating the impact level. Generally, airbags only deploy in moderate to severe accidents. So, if the crash is severe enough, the sensors signal the inflators to air-fill the airbags. This airbag inflation occurs in the blink of an eye.

Alternatively, you can calculate the airbag deployment as less than 1/20th of a second. It’s this speed in deployment that results in injuries to passengers sitting close to the airbags. Side airbags can deploy even faster than this. The less space between the protected passenger and the striking object makes this extra speed possible.

Airbags can also deploy in rollover car accidents. Here, side curtain airbags protect you. They can deploy in about 10-20 milliseconds of a rollover crash. Furthermore, they remain inflated for extended periods.

What If My Airbags Don’t Deploy?

Airbags don’t deploy in all vehicle collisions. Several factors determine the successful deployment of an airbag. They include:

• The features of the accident
• Speed of the crash and impact direction
• Other vehicles involved in the crash

Therefore, airbags may not deploy in certain collisions depending on these factors. If your airbag doesn’t deploy, it could be for the following reasons.

Minor Accidents

In moderate car crashes, your airbag may not deploy. This would be because the crash conditions didn’t need an airbag to protect the car’s passengers. For instance, the seat belt may have been sufficient protection in such moderate accidents.

Child Detection

Advanced frontal airbags can detect when a child or small-stature passenger is in the front seat. Consequently, the system will hold back the airbag. Here, this lack of deployment is to protect the small person in front. Furthermore, it could also be that there’s no passenger in the front seat. In this case, airbag deployment would be unnecessary.

Fairly Used Vehicles

If you bought a fairly used vehicle, its airbags might not deploy in a collision. This fault may be because the former car owner didn’t replace the airbag after a previous crash. Ideally, one should replace airbags after a deployment. If you don’t get a new one, it may not deploy when you next need it.

Maryland Car Accident Attorneys Can Help You!

If you’re ever in a Maryland car accident, you can recover compensation from the fault party. This right is independent of how fast or whether your airbags deploy. However, you’ll need an experienced Maryland car accident attorney to represent you. A lawyer can establish the fault of the other driver.

In addition, they’ll prove and link your injuries to the collision. At Pinder Plotkin, LLC, we have just the right lawyers for you. Our car crash attorneys have extensive experience protecting car accident victims. Therefore, we can win your accident claim too. So, why not call us today for a consultation on your crash?