Can an Airbag Cause a Concussion?

Airbags save lives, but deploying one involves a surprising amount of force. In a serious crash, an airbag can strike your face or head within milliseconds while your body is still moving from the collision.

That can make the source of a head injury difficult to sort out. Was it the airbag? The sudden movement of your head? Did you hit something inside the vehicle without realizing it?

If you're wondering can an airbag cause a concussion, the answer is yes. 

A direct strike from an airbag can contribute to a concussion, and the forces generated during the collision can injure the brain even if your head never hits the steering wheel, dashboard, or window.

Symptoms are not always immediate, either. A headache you initially blamed on the crash may be followed by dizziness, nausea, light sensitivity, memory problems, or trouble concentrating hours later.

Knowing how an airbag-related concussion can happen, what symptoms to watch for, and how the injury fits into a car accident claim can help you decide what to do after the crash.

If concussion symptoms are interfering with your work or daily life after an accident, contact the Brain Injury Law Center at (757) 244-7000 for a free consultation.

How Can an Airbag Cause a Brain Injury?

An airbag has to inflate before your head or body reaches the steering wheel, dashboard, door, or another hard surface. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's airbag safety guidance, an airbag can inflate in less than 1/20th of a second, and direct contact during deployment can cause serious injuries.

Your head may be moving forward or sideways at the same time the airbag is expanding toward you. A direct strike to the face, forehead, or side of the head can contribute to a concussion. The sudden stop or change in direction during the crash can also cause the brain to move inside the skull.

This is why a concussion does not require an obvious head impact. The rapid acceleration, deceleration, and rotation involved in a collision can injure the brain without leaving a cut, bruise, or other visible injury to the head.

A concussion is a form of traumatic brain injury, even when the person remains awake throughout the crash and remembers what happened.

What Does an Airbag Concussion Feel Like?

An airbag concussion may not be obvious while you are still at the accident scene. Adrenaline, stress, and other injuries can make it difficult to recognize that something has changed.

Symptoms can include:

• Headache or pressure in the head
• Dizziness or balance problems
• Nausea or vomiting
• Blurred or double vision
• Sensitivity to light or noise
• Confusion or mental fog
• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory problems
• Unusual fatigue
• Changes in sleep
• Irritability or mood changes
• Slower thinking or response time

Many people with concussions never lose consciousness. Symptoms can also appear gradually, which is why someone who initially feels capable of talking with police or driving home may feel very different later that day or the next morning.

A worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizures, increasing confusion, weakness or numbness, slurred speech, unequal pupils, difficulty waking, or loss of consciousness requires immediate medical attention.

Can You Have a Concussion if Your Brain Scan Is Normal?

Yes. This is one of the more confusing parts of a concussion diagnosis, especially for someone who went to the emergency room after a crash and was told that a CT scan looked normal.

CT scans are commonly used after head trauma to look for injuries such as bleeding in or around the brain and skull fractures. A concussion can exist without those abnormalities appearing on conventional imaging.

Doctors consider the symptoms, neurological examination, memory, balance, cognitive changes, and circumstances surrounding the injury when evaluating a possible concussion. The way symptoms develop after the accident can provide additional information.

This becomes relevant in an injury claim when an insurance company points to normal imaging as a reason to question continuing symptoms. A normal scan does not erase headaches, memory problems, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, or other problems documented after the collision.

Current TBI statistics also show the significant number of people who require emergency and hospital care for traumatic brain injuries each year.

Can Airbags Cause a Concussion Without Leaving a Visible Injury?

Yes. Can airbags cause a concussion even if there is no bruise across your forehead or obvious injury to your face? A visible mark is not necessary for the brain to have been injured.

The head can move rapidly during the initial impact, airbag deployment, and the movement that follows. You may also strike the headrest, seat, window, or another part of the vehicle without clearly remembering it.

That can make the hours after the crash important. Headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, unusual fatigue, memory problems, and sensitivity to light or sound can provide clues that the accident involved more than soreness from the seat belt or airbag.

Seeking medical care also creates a record of when those symptoms appeared and what you reported after the collision.

Was the Airbag Defective or Did Another Driver Cause the Injury?

An airbag does not have to malfunction to cause an injury. It can deploy correctly and still strike an occupant hard enough to contribute to head or facial trauma.

If another driver caused the collision, the resulting concussion can be included in the injury claim against that driver or another responsible party. The fact that the airbag contributed to the injury does not erase the events that caused it to deploy.

There are also crashes where the airbag itself raises questions. It might deploy when it should not, fail to deploy when expected, or have another problem with the restraint system.

Those cases can require examination of the vehicle, crash data, photographs, airbag components, repair history, recalls, and other information. Once a damaged vehicle is repaired, sold, destroyed, or released to an insurer, some of that evidence may become harder to examine.

If you have concerns about how the airbag deployed, call Brain Injury Law Center at (757) 244-7000 before making decisions about the damaged vehicle. Our attorneys can determine what evidence from the crash needs to be preserved.

Why Can a “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Become a Serious Claim?

Doctors classify concussions as mild traumatic brain injuries, but the word “mild” describes the initial injury classification. It does not predict how disruptive the symptoms will be or how quickly a particular person will recover.

For someone who works at a computer all day, headaches and light sensitivity can make a normal workday difficult. Memory and concentration problems can interfere with complex tasks, meetings, school, or managing a household. Dizziness can affect driving and physical activity, while sleep problems and fatigue can make other symptoms harder to manage.

Some crash victims recover relatively quickly. Persistent symptoms can require follow-up care, rehabilitation, neurological evaluation, or neuropsychological testing.

More serious collisions can cause an acquired brain injury involving lasting cognitive, behavioral, or physical impairment. Severe trauma can also result in prolonged unconsciousness or coma.

How Do You Prove a Concussion After a Car Accident?

Concussion claims can be difficult when there is no dramatic scan or visible injury to point to. Building the claim often means showing what changed after the crash and connecting those changes to the collision.

Medical records can document when headaches, dizziness, nausea, cognitive problems, or other symptoms first appeared. Neurological evaluations, treatment records, and neuropsychological testing can provide more information about ongoing problems.

Evidence outside the doctor's office can also be useful. A supervisor may notice that an employee who previously handled complicated tasks is struggling to concentrate. School records might show new academic difficulties. Family members may notice memory problems, irritability, sleep changes, or exhaustion.

The crash evidence matters too. Photographs, vehicle damage, witness statements, police reports, and available vehicle data can help establish the severity and direction of the impact.

Together, that information can provide a clearer picture of the injury than a single CT scan taken shortly after the collision.

What Compensation Can Be Part of a Concussion Claim?

The value of a brain injury claim is tied to the losses caused by the injury. For someone who recovers within a short period, those losses may look very different from those of a person dealing with symptoms months after the crash.

Compensation in a car accident brain injury claim can account for:

• Emergency and hospital treatment
• Neurologist and specialist appointments
• Rehabilitation and therapy
• Lost income
• Reduced earning ability
• Future medical care
• Pain and other physical symptoms
• Cognitive and emotional changes
• Effects on daily activities and relationships

The medical records, length of recovery, work limitations, and continuing symptoms all contribute to understanding the extent of the injury.

Talk to Brain Injury Law Center After a Concussion

Brain Injury Law Center focuses exclusively on brain injury litigation. Our attorneys have nearly five decades of experience representing brain injury survivors and have recovered more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements for our clients.

If you're still asking can an airbag cause a concussion because headaches, dizziness, memory problems, or other symptoms began after your crash, those symptoms deserve to be taken seriously.

Call Brain Injury Law Center at (757) 244-7000 or message us online for a free consultation. Our attorneys can evaluate how the collision happened, document the effects of your concussion, and pursue compensation from those responsible for your injuries.