Injured by a defective airbag in Fresno, CA? Contact the top Fresno airbag injury lawyer to seek justice and compensation.
An airbag is engineered to save your life. When it fails, the harm it leaves behind is often worse than the wreck itself. We see it in Fresno every year. A driver walks away from a moderate impact with shattered bones and severe burns because the inflator ruptured. A passenger suffers a catastrophic head injury in a survivable collision because the sensor never fired. When that happens, you are not just dealing with the other driver. You are up against the automaker or airbag manufacturer that built the defective part, and the insurers working to protect them.
At Kuzyk Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, our personal injury attorneys bring decades of product liability experience to airbag defect cases, including deep familiarity with the Takata recall and the defective inflators still affecting vehicles on the road today. With decades of experience serving clients throughout Fresno and the Central Valley, we know how to secure the vehicle, preserve the crash data, and build a case that holds the manufacturer accountable.
Get a free consultation and discover how our airbag injury attorneys in Fresno can help you seek the compensation and justice you deserve.
Do You Have a Fresno Airbag Injury Claim?
You likely have a valid claim if your airbag failed to fire in a serious crash, deployed without a real collision, or inflated so aggressively that it caused the injury itself. When an airbag system does not perform as engineered, the manufacturers and automakers responsible can be held legally accountable.
We look at three things immediately:
- Crash severity: Was the impact serious enough that the airbag should have deployed?
- Airbag behavior: Did it fail to fire, deploy too late, or detonate too forcefully?
- Your injuries: Burns, broken facial bones, blindness, and chest trauma are all consistent with a malfunction.
Call (661) 945-6969 for a free case review, available 24/7.
How Airbags Fail
Your car’s Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) is the network of sensors and inflators that controls deployment. When any component breaks down, the device designed to protect you becomes the source of serious harm.
| Failure Mode | What It Means | Common Injuries |
| Failure to Deploy | Airbag does not fire in a serious crash | Head trauma, facial fractures, wrongful death |
| Late Deployment | Airbag fires after you’ve already moved into impact | Spinal injury, brain injury, facial lacerations |
| Overpowering Deployment | Airbag fires too forcefully or ejects shrapnel | Burns, blindness, hearing loss, shrapnel wounds |
| Inadvertent Deployment | Airbag fires randomly or during a minor bump | Broken nose, broken wrists, loss of vehicle control |
Signs Your Airbag Was Defective
The clearest sign is a mismatch, an airbag that stays flat during a highway collision or fires on a parking lot tap is not performing as designed. Other indicators include an SRS warning light that was on before the accident, white powder residue or metal fragments inside the cabin, and chemical burns that are not consistent with the collision force itself.
You can enter your 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) at nhtsa.gov/recalls to check whether your vehicle is listed in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) database. A recall strengthens your case, but you do not need one to have a valid claim.
Evidence to Preserve in the First 72 Hours
The Airbag Control Module (ACM) is a black box built into your vehicle that records exactly what the SRS did in the moments before and during impact. Once an insurer totals and disposes of a vehicle, that data is gone, and so is much of your case.
Here is what to do immediately:
- Preserve the vehicle: Tell the insurer you are holding the car for legal inspection and do not release it.
- Photograph the interior: Capture the steering column, airbag position, seatbelt condition, and all visible injuries.
- Run a VIN check: Go to nhtsa.gov/recalls and save the results regardless of outcome.
- See a doctor the same day: Describe every symptom in full, those first records are foundational to your claim.
- Decline a recorded statement: Do not speak to any adjuster before contacting an attorney.
Call (661) 945-6969 before the vehicle is released, we respond 24/7.
“One of the worst things somebody not represented by an attorney can do is give a statement to the insurance company. They’re professionals at asking questions in order to trap you and make your case look bad.” – Mark Anderson
Who Can Be Held Responsible
Unlike a standard car accident claim, an airbag defect case is not limited to one driver’s insurance policy. A product liability claim is a legal action against the company that designed, manufactured, or sold a defective product, and those defendants carry far greater resources than a typical driver.
Potentially responsible parties include:
- The vehicle manufacturer: Automakers like Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda that installed the faulty SRS
- The airbag manufacturer: Companies like Takata, Autoliv, or Joyson Safety Systems that built the defective inflator or sensor
- A dealer or repair shop: Any business that failed to complete a required recall or installed components incorrectly
We pursue every responsible party at once, stacking the product liability claim on top of any auto negligence claim against the at-fault driver.
One pattern we consistently see in airbag defect claims out of Fresno County is that the vehicle manufacturer and the airbag supplier point fingers at each other for months before either side will accept responsibility, while our client is the one stuck negotiating with an adjuster in the meantime. We routinely have to name both defendants in the same product liability action filed in Fresno County Superior Court just to keep the case moving. Waiting for the companies to sort out their own disagreement is not a luxury most injured clients can afford.
The Takata Recall: What You Need to Know
Takata’s inflators used a chemical compound that degraded under heat and humidity, causing violent ruptures that propelled metal fragments through the airbag fabric and into vehicle occupants. The resulting recalls spanned virtually every major automaker and remain the largest in U.S. automotive history.
If your vehicle already had a recall repair done, that does not close your legal options. Some replacement inflators were later found defective, and dealerships that failed to perform required repairs carry their own separate liability.
Across the Takata-related claims we’ve handled out of our Fresno office, a recurring issue is that clients treated at Community Regional Medical Center after an inflator rupture assume the recall notice they received in the mail automatically covers their injury. It does not. Insurers routinely point to the existence of a recall notice to argue the vehicle should have been repaired sooner, shifting blame back onto the driver instead of the manufacturer that built the defective part.
Injuries We See in Airbag Cases
Airbag malfunctions produce some of the most severe and lasting harm we handle, and emergency rooms frequently underestimate the full extent of these injuries at the first visit.
Common injuries include:
- Facial burns, deep lacerations, and permanent scarring
- Permanent eye damage or blindness
- Broken nose, jaw, cheekbones, wrists, or forearms
- Chest and cardiac trauma from deployment force
- Tinnitus and permanent hearing loss
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and spinal cord damage
- Chemical burns from deployment gases
- Wrongful death
What we see repeatedly in airbag injury cases along corridors like SR-99 and SR-41 is that facial and eye injuries get treated as minor in the first week, only for permanent nerve damage or vision loss to surface once the swelling goes down. Adjusters who reviewed the file while the injury still looked cosmetic are often the same ones who resist revising their offer once the full extent is documented. That gap between the first exam and the final diagnosis is where most of these cases are won or lost.
What Compensation Is Available in California
Because these cases name corporate defendants, the recoverable damages reach far beyond what a standard insurance policy would ever cover.
- Medical bills: Every past and future cost from the first ER visit through long-term rehabilitation
- Lost income: Wages missed during recovery and future earning capacity if the injury limits your ability to work
- Pain and suffering: The physical and emotional toll of what you have endured
- Disfigurement: Permanent scarring or changes to your appearance caused by the malfunction
- Punitive damages: Available when a manufacturer concealed a defect it already knew about
Winning matters. But what you keep matters more. We negotiate down the medical liens on your settlement so your final take-home number reflects the real effort behind the result.
California’s Filing Deadline for Airbag Claims
California gives you two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury or product liability lawsuit under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. In some product liability cases, that clock can instead start from the date you discovered the defect. Missing the applicable deadline eliminates your right to any recovery.
The deadline to protect the ACM data is far shorter. A vehicle can be crushed within days of being totaled. Contact us before the insurer makes that decision for you.
Fees, Costs, and Your Net Recovery
We handle every airbag case on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless we win, and we advance all litigation costs, including engineering experts qualified to extract and analyze both the ACM and Event Data Recorder (EDR) data.
At disbursement, we walk through every dollar with you, attorney fees, medical liens, expert costs, and your final amount, because transparency at the end of a case is not optional.
“Insurance companies want to hold onto their money as long as they can, and as much of it as they can.” – Mark Anderson
Why Kuzyk Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers for Fresno Airbag Cases
Our firm represents injured people only, we do not represent insurers or manufacturers. That focus has never changed.
Our record reflects it:
- We have a proven track record of securing substantial recoveries for clients across California.
- Trial-ready on every case: Insurers settle higher when they know we will follow through
- Documented results: We routinely reject inadequate initial offers and secure substantially larger settlements and verdicts for our clients.
- Bilingual service: Spanish-speaking clients served at our Fresno office and at espanol.kuzyklaw.com
“There’s a lot of moving parts to a successful personal injury case. Unless you do it for a living, you wouldn’t know those moving parts. Don’t go it alone.” – Mark Anderson
What Happens After You Call
You call, we listen, and there is no cost or obligation attached to that first conversation. If we take your case, we immediately move to secure the vehicle and place a legal hold on the ACM before the insurer can act.
From that point forward, you do not speak to adjusters or manufacturers, we handle every communication while you focus on getting better, and we do not get paid until you do.
Injured by a defective airbag in Fresno? Call Kuzyk Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers at (661) 945-6969, free consultation, no obligation, Se Habla Español.
Fresno Airbag Injury FAQ
Can I Sue for an Airbag Injury if the Other Driver Was Also at Fault?
Yes, we pursue a product liability claim against the airbag or vehicle manufacturer at the same time as a negligence claim against the at-fault driver, and both can contribute to your total recovery.
Does a Completed Takata Recall Repair Prevent Me from Filing a Claim?
Not necessarily, some replacement Takata inflators were later found defective, and a dealer that failed to correctly perform the recall holds its own separate liability for your injuries.
How Long Does an Airbag Defect Lawsuit Take to Resolve?
Some claims resolve before a lawsuit is filed, while cases that proceed to full litigation against a manufacturer generally take longer and can pursue broader damages.
Can I Recover Compensation if I Was Not Wearing a Seatbelt?
California’s comparative fault rules may reduce your award in proportion to your share of fault, but they do not eliminate your claim entirely.
What if My Car Was Already Scrapped Before I Contacted an Attorney?
We may still build a claim using crash scene photographs, the police report, your medical records, and any EDR data retrieved before the vehicle was disposed. Contact us immediately so we can assess what evidence remains.
Do You Serve Spanish-Speaking Airbag Injury Clients in Fresno?
Yes, our bilingual team and Spanish-language site at espanol.kuzyklaw.com are available at any time, and our Fresno office handles Spanish-language cases directly.