Oxnard Airbag Injury Lawyer

A device built to save your life should not be the reason you end up in a trauma bay. When an airbag fires with the wrong force, at the wrong moment, or not at all, the injuries that follow are often worse than anything the crash itself would have caused. Facial fractures, burns, brain trauma, and shrapnel wounds do not happen in ordinary collisions. They happen when the safety system inside your vehicle turns against you.

If that describes what you or someone in your family just went through on Highway 101, Rice Avenue, or anywhere else in Ventura County, the road ahead is going to involve more than doctors and body shops. It will involve a manufacturer with a legal team already working to blame the crash instead of the product, an insurer looking for statements to hold against you, and evidence sitting inside a totaled vehicle that will disappear the moment the salvage yard takes possession.

Crane Flores Injury & Car Accident Lawyers represents Oxnard drivers and passengers hurt by defective airbag systems. Our founding partners have recovered over $1.2 billion for injured Californians, including a $125 million car accident settlement, and we bring the same trial-ready preparation to airbag product liability cases that automakers bring to defend them. You pay nothing unless we win. 

Call (805) 292-7074 or contact us online any time, day or night, for a free consultation in English or Spanish.

What Counts as an Airbag Defect?

An airbag defect is any flaw in design, manufacturing, or labeling that makes the system more dangerous than a reasonable person would expect. You do not need an open recall to file a claim; you need proof that the device failed to perform safely at the moment it was needed most.

The most common defects we see in airbag injury cases include:

• Failure to deploy: The airbag does not inflate during a crash severe enough to warrant it
• Unexpected deployment: The system fires during a low-speed impact or without any collision at all
• Over-aggressive inflation: The airbag deploys with so much force that it, not the collision, becomes the source of injury
• Ruptured inflators: The metal canister housing the propellant explodes and sends fragments through the cabin
• Chemical burns: Propellant compounds released during deployment cause severe burns to the face, neck, and eyes
• Faulty crash sensors: The system misreads impact severity and triggers the wrong response entirely

What Injuries Do Airbags Cause?

When an airbag malfunctions, it can cause far more physical harm than the crash itself. The force, chemical composition, and deployment speed of a defective airbag create injuries that are distinct from, and often more severe than, ordinary accident trauma.

Common injuries in airbag cases include:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a disruption of normal brain function caused by direct impact or violent movement of the head
• Permanent vision loss or eye damage
• Facial fractures involving the nose, cheekbones, and orbital bones around the eye socket
• Hearing loss and tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears, caused by the explosive sound of deployment
• Chemical and thermal burns to the face and arms
• Broken ribs, collapsed lungs, and internal organ damage
• Wrongful death caused by inflator shrapnel or blunt force

Children, shorter adults, and passengers seated close to the steering column or dashboard face disproportionately high risk.

Who Is Liable for a Defective Airbag?

An airbag passes through many hands before it reaches you, designer, manufacturer, automaker, and installer. Liability often follows the same path, and identifying every party in that chain is how we build a case that doesn’t leave money on the table.

Automakers

Car manufacturers select and certify the airbag systems installed in every vehicle they sell. When Honda, Toyota, Ford, GM, or any other automaker installs a defective system or ignores internal safety data, they carry direct liability for what happens to occupants.

A pattern we consistently see in Oxnard airbag cases is the automaker pointing to the parts supplier and the supplier pointing back to the automaker, each hoping the other absorbs liability while the claim stalls. Naming every liable party at the outset is one of the most effective ways we keep a case from getting caught in that back and forth.

Airbag Suppliers

The company that engineered the airbag module carries independent liability for flaws in the inflator, propellant chemistry, bag tethers, or structural components, regardless of which vehicles the module ended up in.

Dealerships and Repair Shops

A dealer who failed to complete a required recall repair, a shop that reinstalled a previously deployed airbag, or a mechanic who substituted inferior parts can each be held independently accountable for your injuries.

The At-Fault Driver

If another driver caused the crash, we file a negligence claim against them and their insurer in parallel with the product liability case against the manufacturer. Both defendants can be responsible, and we pursue both simultaneously.

What to Do After an Airbag Injury

Prompt action after an airbag injury can help preserve your legal position and avoid undermining your case. Manufacturers and their insurers move fast to limit liability. Your response needs to be just as immediate.

• Seek medical care before anything else. Emergency records establish a direct, documented connection between the accident and your injuries, something the defense will challenge at every turn if left undocumented.
• Do not release the vehicle. Your car’s deployed airbag, inflator canister, and electronic control module are the central evidence in a product liability case. Once the insurer takes possession and the car is auctioned, that evidence is gone for good.
• Photograph everything. Capture the airbag, the interior of the vehicle, and your injuries before anyone else touches the scene or moves the car.
• Check your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains a free, searchable recall database. An open recall strengthens your claim, but the absence of one doesn’t end it.
• Call us before speaking to any adjuster. Statements made without legal counsel can be used by the defense to minimize what you recover.

How We Prove Airbag Defects

The automakers we go up against don’t simply pay airbag injury claims. They hire engineering teams and national defense firms specifically to argue that the crash, not the airbag, caused your injuries. We come to those fights fully prepared.

One pattern we see often in airbag defect cases is the manufacturer’s own crash data showing a sensor anomaly that never makes it into the initial claims file unless an attorney specifically requests the Event Data Recorder and Airbag Control Module downloads. Pulling that data early is standard practice for us on every airbag case we take.

We build every airbag case around four pillars of evidence:

• Crash reconstruction: Independent reconstructionists model the speed, angle, and force of impact to establish exactly what the airbag system should have done, and why it failed to do it.
• EDR and ACM data: Your vehicle’s Event Data Recorder and Airbag Control Module capture millisecond-level data from before, during, and after impact. We secure that data immediately before it can be overwritten.
• Forensic lab testing: The inflator and airbag module are sent to an independent laboratory to identify manufacturing defects, propellant failure, or structural flaws invisible to the naked eye.
• Biomechanical testimony: Expert witnesses connect the specific forces generated by the defective deployment to your exact injury pattern, directly countering the defense’s alternative theories.

“Professional and thorough representation. What I thought would be a painful experience was exactly the opposite after I hired Mark to represent me.” – Christina R.

How Much Is an Airbag Injury Case Worth?

Anyone who gives you a settlement number before examining your case in detail is guessing. Case value depends on the severity of your injuries, the strength of your evidence, the number of liable parties, and the long-term disruption to your life. We pursue every category of compensation California law allows.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are your direct financial losses, past and future medical bills, lost income during recovery, reduced earning capacity going forward, and the total loss of your vehicle. These are grounded in bills, pay stubs, and economic expert projections.

Non-Economic Damages

These compensate for the human cost of the injury: the chronic pain you manage every day, the disfigurement that changed your appearance, the hearing loss that follows you into every conversation, and the emotional burden of an event that rewrote your daily life without warning.

Punitive Damages

When a manufacturer chose to conceal a known defect rather than recall the product, California courts can award punitive damages above and beyond compensatory recovery. These are not meant to reimburse you, they are intended to punish corporations for deliberate misconduct.

How Long Do I Have to File in California?

California law gives you two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury or product liability lawsuit under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. If a government-owned vehicle is involved, the window to file a formal claim can be as short as six months.

The legal deadline, however, is not your practical one. Vehicle evidence degrades, electronic data gets overwritten, and witnesses’ memories fade. The moment you contact us, we move to preserve what we need before the defense can get to it first.

Does a Recall Affect Your Airbag Claim?

A recall doesn’t close your claim, it usually strengthens it. When a manufacturer issues a recall, they are publicly acknowledging that a defect existed across a wide range of vehicles. Both the Takata and the more recent ARC Automotive inflator recalls were issued in response to defects in inflator components.

If the recall repair was never performed on your vehicle, that strengthens your position. If the repair was done and the replacement part also failed, a separate line of liability opens against the replacement supplier and the shop that completed the work.

Why Hire Crane Flores Injury & Car Accident Lawyers?

The companies behind defective airbags employ national defense firms and in-house engineers specifically to limit what injured people recover. We have spent decades standing directly across from that opposition and winning. With more than 50 years of combined experience and $1.2 billion recovered for injured Californians, we bring the same level of preparation to airbag cases that automakers bring to defend them.

“Impressive expertise, excellent results. His knowledge of the law and high level of expertise in the field of personal injury are impressive.” – Don K.

Our case results include:

• $125 million car accident settlement
• $7 million police shooting award
• $6 million premises liability recovery
• $4 million back fusion case

We handle every airbag injury case on a contingency fee basis, with no attorney fees unless we win. We also connect clients with physicians who provide treatment on a medical lien, so your care is funded by your eventual recovery rather than out of your own pocket. Our offices in Oxnard, Ventura, and Santa Barbara serve clients across Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and we are available 24/7 in both English and Spanish.

Call (805) 292-7074 for a free consultation, any time, any day.

Frequently Asked Questions about Airbag Injury Claims

Can I File a Claim If My Airbag Failed to Deploy?

Yes, non-deployment during a moderate-to-severe crash is a strong indicator of a defective sensor or control module, and it forms the basis of a product liability claim against both the automaker and the airbag supplier.

Does Not Wearing a Seat Belt Prevent Me from Suing the Airbag Manufacturer?

California’s comparative negligence rule may reduce your recovery by your share of fault, but it does not prevent you from holding a manufacturer liable for a defective product.

Should I Let the Insurance Company Take My Totaled Car?

No, the vehicle contains the airbag module, inflator canister, and electronic data recorder central to proving your case. Call us before you sign anything that transfers possession to the insurer.

Can I Still Sue If My Car’s Recall Repair Was Already Completed?

Yes. If the replacement airbag also failed, it raises serious questions about the quality of the replacement parts and whether the repair itself met the required standard, both of which support your claim.

How Long Does an Airbag Product Liability Case Take?

The time to resolve an airbag injury claim varies widely. Straightforward cases may settle more quickly, while complex cases involving multiple corporate defendants and extensive expert analysis can take substantially longer to reach a full resolution.