You be expecting your air bags to guard you from personal injury throughout an accident. You count on to be ready to use your sunlight visor to shield your eyes from the brilliant glare of the sun. On the other hand, in some vehicles, the combination of deploying air bags and in-use sunlight visors can have hazardous implications, like blinding you. This web site describes these hazards in some of individuals cars.
The Accident
A youthful guy was driving a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse in rural Texas. For the reason that the sunlight was placing on the horizon, the passenger experienced her solar visor down to protect her eyes. As the car turned slowly into a Minimal League parking great deal, its remaining front wheel struck a modest submit in the middle of the driveway that experienced been obscured by dust kicked up by other cars and trucks. Irrespective of the reduced velocity, and despite the absence of any destruction to the front bumper or front conclude, the air baggage deployed.
As the passenger air bag deployed, it slammed into the passenger’s sunshine visor (sunlight shade), smashing it aside and sending it traveling. As a consequence, our client was strike in the confront and was blinded in a single eye. The sunshine visor remained connected to the vehicle by only a one strand of wire, considering the fact that the air bag smashed it off its attachments.
The force from the deploying air bag was so strong, that it ripped a jagged metallic insert from within the sunshine visor ideal by way of the visor’s plastic shell. The power was also strong more than enough to shatter the vainness mirror that was portion of the sunlight visor.
Offered this dangerous conversation involving the air bag and the solar visor, and offered the devastating harm that it prompted, it is not surprising that there was blood on the floor of the air bag.
Our Tests
To decide whether the passenger air bag was intended in a way that authorized it to rip the sunlight visor off all through deployment when the visor was becoming utilised, we examined one more 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse at an independent air bag exam facility. For the screening, we used equally genuine-time video clip cameras and quite advanced substantial-velocity cameras. This large-speed online video of the screening authorized us to seize the passenger air bag / solar visor conversation in terrific detail, and to plainly doc how the air bag rips the sunlight visor off its attachments.
In each one of our tests, the passenger air bag smashed into the sunshine visor, ripped it off its attachments, and despatched it traveling by the cabin of the car, where it could pose a risk to the travellers.
Whilst this accident, and the tests we done, was in a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, other vehicles are also at risk for the similar danger. For instance, our investigation has disclosed the pursuing cars offered in the United States all use the same or substantially identical passenger air luggage and passenger sunshine visors as the ones we examined that demonstrated the danger:
o2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse
o2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder
o2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Dodge Stratus
o2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Chrysler Sebring
Other automobiles may possibly use diverse air luggage or distinct sunlight visors, but that does not essentially suggest that they are free of charge from hazard. For illustration, some other cars could also have a passenger air bag that deploys upward, alongside the windshield, and that can strike a sun visor that is being utilized. At the very same time, some other motor vehicles may well have sun visors that are not particularly made to remain jointly immediately after remaining strike by an air bag.