This paper describes three crashes involving airbag-equipped cars, in which the driver or the front passenger sustained fatal lesions without intrusion of the passenger compartment. Two fatal cases regard drivers, with immediate or delayed exitus; one case regards an unrestrained passenger that was found dead at the scene. Postmortem data were available for two cases and are discussed with concern to the pathogenesis of lesions. According to the literature and to the dynamics of impacts, there is strong suggestion that the described fatal lesions have been produced by the airbags themselves. Airbag deployment may be dramatically dangerous if the seat belts are not worn. The last assertion is categoric especially categoric especially for the right passenger, whose body may more easily be displaced within the air bag inflation area during the braking phase that often precedes the impact. (A)
Abstract