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A death due to faulty airbag system—case report

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Abstract

Injuries due to automobile safety devices have been reported and we report a rare fatality due to a defective airbag system. A compact hybrid car driven by a 37-year-old male at moderate speed had crashed through an unprotected manhole. The car had moved around 200 m before it came to a halt. The passers-by had noticed that the driver was unconscious, partly leaning forward with an inflated airbag. He was pronounced dead on admission. The car had sustained minor indentation on front bumper. Autopsy revealed a circular perforated laceration on the neck associated with completely transected right carotid artery and partially transected jugular vein. There was a 2 × 2-cm cylindrical metal object lodged at C4–C5 vertebrae level, and the remaining part of this was retrieved during scene investigation and identified as a part of a metal canister in the inflator component of the airbag system. There was a perforation in the airbag which was similar in size to the retrieved foreign body. The cause of death was ascertained as hemorrhagic shock due to bleeding from ruptured neck vessels caused by primary shrapnel projected from the faulty airbag system. Following the incident, the manufacturers replaced faulty airbag systems in similar models. If abnormally fatal injuries are observed, a scene visit along with automotive expert opinion would provide valuable insight into the incident. Such information would alert the general public on regular screening of safety measures and prompt manufacturers to recall faulty products.

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Data Availability

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka

    Amal Nishantha Vadysinghe, Kasun Bandara Ekanayake, Chathula Ushari Wickramasinghe, Gayan Kumarasinghe & Bandarage Sanjaya

  2. Office of the Judicial Medical Officer, District General Hospital, Horana, Sri Lanka

    Paneetha Seneviratne

Authors
  1. Amal Nishantha Vadysinghe
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  2. Paneetha Seneviratne
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  3. Kasun Bandara Ekanayake
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  4. Chathula Ushari Wickramasinghe
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  5. Gayan Kumarasinghe
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  6. Bandarage Sanjaya
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data work; and drafting the work and reviewing it critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final of the version to be published.

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Correspondence to Amal Nishantha Vadysinghe.

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The presented autopsy case was conducted for medico-legal purposes and the findings are available in public domain. However, we used this information for academic purposes, including teaching and publication, according to the institutional guidelines with informed written consent of the next of kin and without divulging the identity of the individual.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Vadysinghe, A.N., Seneviratne, P., Ekanayake, K.B. et al. A death due to faulty airbag system—case report. Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-023-00715-1

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