Can I Claim Compensation For Airbag Injuries?
By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 15th November 2023. If you are involved in a car accident, the airbag may deploy. Although airbags can save lives, they can also result in injuries. This guide looks at when you might be eligible to make an airbag injury claim.
In order to have a valid case, you must prove that you obtained your injury due to another user of the road breaching their duty of care. We look at a few examples of the injuries you might suffer should an airbag deploy, and the evidence that could be collected to support your claim. Should you have a valid case, you may be interested in how much compensation you might be able to claim. We explain how settlements are awarded.
If you have an eligible personal injury case, you may wish to have a solicitor to support you with the claiming process. We conclude this guide with a look at how you could benefit from having a No Win No Fee solicitor work on your case.
If you have any questions or would like to check your eligibility to claim, please get in touch with an advisor from our team.
To speak to an advisor:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Enter your details in our ‘claim online’ form for a call back.
- Use our live chat feature.
Airbag injury claims guide
Select a Section
- Can I Claim Compensation For An Airbag Injury
- How To Prove An Airbag Injury Claim
- Examples Of Injuries From Airbags
- Compensation Payouts For Airbag Injuries
- Airbag Injuries – Claiming With Our No Win No Fee Lawyers
Can I Claim Compensation For An Airbag Injury?
If you suffer any injuries in a road traffic accident, including an airbag injury, you could be eligible to seek compensation. However, you must be able to satisfy the eligibility requirements.
While using the roads, all road users owe each other a duty of care to navigate them in a way that prevents injury and damage to themselves and others. As part of this duty, those using the roads must follow the rules found in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code.
However, to be eligible to make a car accident claim, you need to prove that:
- Another road user owed you a duty of care.
- They breached this duty.
- You suffered injuries because of this breach.
Speak with one of our advisors if you have any questions about claiming personal injury compensation for injuries from airbags.
Time Limits For Making An Airbag Injury Claim
The time limit for starting an airbag injury claim is three years, beginning on the date that you suffered your injuries. This limit is outlined by the Limitation Act 1980, which also outlines the exceptions to this limit.
For those under the age of 18, the time limit is frozen as legally they cannot claim for themselves. A litigation friend can start a claim for them during this time, but they won’t be able to bring their own claim forward until the time limit begins on their 18th birthday. They would then have until their 21st birthday to issue court proceedings.
The time limit is also frozen for those who lack the capacity to claim for themselves, in these cases indefinitely. Similar to the above, a litigation friend can make an airbag injury claim on their behalf at any point while the limit is frozen; however, the time limit will only reinstate if the claimant regains the capacity to claim for themself.
To find out if you are within the correct time limit to claim for airbag injuries such as airbag burns, head injuries, and scarring, contact our team today.
How To Prove An Airbag Injury Claim
If you are claiming personal injury compensation for your airbag injuries, you must submit evidence. This will need to prove liability for your injuries as well as the injuries themselves.
Here are a few examples of items you could submit to support your road traffic accident claim:
- A copy of your medical records. These can illustrate the type of airbag injury you suffered and what treatment you required.
- Photographs from the accident scene, your deployed airbag, or any visible injuries you suffered.
- Videos of the accident, such as from a dashcam.
- The contact details from anyone who witnessed the accident. This is so they can give a statement later in the claims process.
- A police statement if the police attended the accident.
If you would like to discuss what evidence could support personal injury claims for injuries from airbags, get in touch with one of our team members.
Examples Of Injuries From Airbags
You can suffer various injuries from airbags should one deploy in a car accident. These may include:
- Tinnitus as a result of the noise that the airbag makes.
- Fractures of facial bones can occur with the force of the airbag deployment. For example, you could suffer breaks to your nose, jaw, and cheekbones.
- The force of the airbag deployment may also result in teeth damage. These may need to be extracted and implants put in their place.
- You can suffer a burn injury if the airbag ruptures. This is because it can release high-temperature gases. These burns can also result in a permanent scar.
- The deployment force may also cause a broken rib.
However, you must remember that to be able to claim for your airbag injuries, you must be able to prove that your injuries were caused by another road user breaching their duty of care.
If you would like to discuss your airbag injury and find out if you have good grounds to make a personal injury claim, contact one of the advisors from our team.
Compensation Payouts For Airbag Injuries
Compensation can be made up of various figures. Because of this, different aspects of your claim need to be individually assessed by the legal professionals responsible for valuing your claim.
The matter of general damages is the figure that’s awarded to you for the level of pain and suffering you experience due to your injuries. When legal professionals are arriving at an appropriate value for this figure, they use a few different resources. One of these is the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) which contains a list of bracket compensation amounts relating to different injuries. This publication was last updated in April 2022.
General damages may also be evaluated using any relevant evidence you have gathered for your case. This may include medical reports or pictures of your airbag injuries. Generally, the more serious your injuries are, the higher the compensation you may receive for the pain and suffering experienced. For example, if you suffered severe airbag burns, that were permanently disfiguring or disabling in some way, you may receive more compensation than for minor injuries such as a minor scratch or bruise that heals fully.
We’ve included some excerpts in the table below except for the first and last two entries. This way, you can see some of the example figures for different injuries. However, these figures are not guaranteed for your claim.
| Injury | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries that are serious and financial losses | Up to £75,000 | The award may cover compensation for pain and suffering for multiple serious injuries as well as other expenses related to the injury, such as cosmetic dentistry. |
| Fracture of Jaws (i) | £30,490 to £45,540 | Multiple very serious fractures that require prolonged treatment and lead to permanent consequences. |
| Fracture of Jaws (ii) | £17,960 to £30,490 | A serious fracture resulting in permanent issues such as difficulty opening the mouth. |
| Severe Tinnitus (i) | £29,710 to £45,540 | The claimant has suffered hearing loss along with severe tinnitus. |
| Skeletal Injuries | £23,810 to £36,740 | Le fort fractures of frontal facial bones. |
| Skeletal Injuries | £14,900 to £23,950 | Multiple facial bone fractures with some permanent deformity. |
| Fractures of nose or nasal complex (i) | £10,640 to £23,130 | Multiple or serious fractures requiring operations and causing permanent damage to the airways and nerves. |
| Damage to Teeth (i) | £8,730 to £11,410 | Loss or serious damage to multiple front teeth |
| Whiplash Tariff | £4,215 | One or more whiplash injuries lasting 18-24 months |
| Whiplash Tariff | £4,345 | One or more whiplash injuries with minor psychological injuries lasting 15-18 months |
Special Damages
There is another head of claim that you can receive compensation through: special damages. This relates to the financial losses caused by the injury.
Financial losses you may be able to claim for include:
- Loss of earnings – If the injury has led to you being unable to work due to requiring extensive airbag burn treatment, for instance, you can claim for loss of earnings caused as a result.
- Travel costs – If the injury has led to you not being able to drive, you could claim back the public transport or taxi costs.
- Medical expenses – This can include prescription costs and, if applicable, private healthcare costs if you require treatment that is not available on the NHS. You could also claim for private therapy if it’s needed as part of your rehabilitation.
Evidence you would need to prove the value of the financial losses includes invoices, bank statements, payslips and receipts. To learn more about claiming special damages, please contact us for free using the details above.
Whiplash Reforms
The Whiplash Reform Programme may impact how you make your claim if the road traffic accident occurred in England or Wales. These reforms apply to those aged 18 or over, who suffered injuries valued at £5,000 or less as a driver or passenger in a vehicle.
The tariff found within the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 will be used when valuing your whiplash injuries. These amounts are fixed. We provided a few examples of the tariffs in our table. Additional injuries that are not covered by this tariff will be valued in the traditional manner.
Airbag Injuries – Claiming With Our No Win No Fee Solicitors
If you have decided to make an airbag injury claim after a road traffic accident, why not call our advisor to have your case assessed for free? Not only can our advisors provide free advice, and evaluate your eligibility to claim but can also advise whether one of our No Win No Fee solicitors could represent you.
Very often, our solicitors operate under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. When making a car accident claim for airbag injuries with a No Win No Fee solicitor, you could benefit from the following:
- No fees to pay upfront for the solicitor’s service, and
- No solicitors fees to pay as your case progresses, should
- The claim not be successful, you would not need to pay for the service the solicitor has provided.
Only when the airbag injury claim is successful will the solicitor take a capped percentage of the compensation as a success fee.
To find out if you can make a road traffic accident claim with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors following injuries from airbags, call our advisors today for free advice.
Contact Us Today
A solicitor can help make sure that all areas of your claim are covered. For example, they can help gather evidence to prove liability, the costs caused by your injuries, and the suffering you’ve undergone. To find out if you are eligible to work with one of our solicitors on a No Win No Fee basis, contact our team today by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804
- Using the contact page
- Starting your claim online
Useful Links Related To Airbag Injuries
In this final section of our airbag injury guide, we’ve included some links to resources which you may find useful:
- Government safety guidance on airbags
- ROSPA airbag facts
- Legal Expert guide to car accident compensation
- Get advice on claiming for injuries sustained by lifting heavy objects at work from our guide.
This link takes you to another of our guides about car accident claims that may be of use to you.
