Airbag defect lawsuits: what they allege and where each one stands
Airbag defects are faults in the parts that decide whether a car's airbags go off in a crash, such as the airbag control unit or a seat sensor. Several class action lawsuits claim that vehicles from Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota had such faults. These are allegations, and the companies may dispute them. This page lists each lawsuit and shows where it stands, based on its own record.
Open for claims now
These settlements are taking claims. Check who qualifies and the deadline on each one.
Lawsuits still in court
Nobody can file a claim in these yet. Many class action lawsuits end without a settlement, so some of these may never open for claims.
- Nissan Altima Airbag Sensor lawsuitLawsuit filed · Not open for claims yetOwners say the Altima's passenger seat sensor can fail to detect an adult, so the airbag may not deploy
Claims closed
The deadline to file a claim has passed for these settlements.
- Mitsubishi Airbags settlementMitsubishi allegedly sold vehicles with defective airbag control units that can fail or misfire, while hiding the risk and overstating safety in marketing
What is airbag defects?
An airbag control unit is a small computer in the car. It reads signals from crash sensors and decides when to fire the airbags and, in many vehicles, when to tighten the seatbelts. Some cars also have an occupant classification sensor in the front passenger seat. This sensor estimates who is sitting there, such as an adult, a child or no one, so the system can switch the passenger airbag on or off.
Carmakers build these systems into vehicles to control when the airbags deploy. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's page on air bags, airbags are meant to work together with seatbelts to help protect people in a crash.
The lawsuits listed here say the parts in certain vehicles could fail. The Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Toyota lawsuits say the airbag control units could fail in a crash, which they claim could stop airbags, and in the Toyota case seatbelts, from working as promised. The Mitsubishi lawsuit also claims the company hid the risk and overstated safety in its marketing. The Nissan Altima airbag sensor lawsuit says the passenger seat sensor can fail to detect an adult, so the airbag may not deploy. These are allegations, and the companies may dispute them.
You can look up open safety recalls for a specific vehicle by its vehicle identification number (VIN, the 17-character code on your registration) using NHTSA's recall lookup. A recall is separate from these lawsuits.
Products named in these lawsuits
Being on this list means a lawsuit names the product. It does not mean a court has found anything wrong with it.
- Hyundai vehicles
- Mitsubishi vehicles
- Nissan Altima
- Toyota vehicles