Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Federal regulators have now tied 11 deaths to a replacement air bag inflator that ruptures in a crash and sends metal fragments into the driver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the latest death in a consumer alert on September 3, 2026. It was the first in a Chevrolet Equinox, after 10 in Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata vehicles. In every incident, the vehicle’s original driver air bag inflator had been replaced with one the agency calls defective and likely illegally imported. The agency describes the crashes as otherwise survivable.
A defective air bag claim in Maryland does not stop with the driver who caused the collision. The person hurt by the inflator may also have a claim against the shop that installed it, the seller of the vehicle, and the businesses that imported and distributed the part.
The alert places the most recent death in Dallas and does not mention Maryland. Used cars are sold across state lines, though, and a repaired vehicle bought here can carry a part installed anywhere. Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers reviews a vehicle’s repair history in Maryland car accident claims where an air bag injured the person it was meant to protect.
What NHTSA Found About the Banned Inflators
The inflators carry the identifier DTN60DB. NHTSA banned their importation and sale earlier this year, a step the agency says it had not taken in more than two decades. It concluded that they pose a risk of serious injury or death. An air bag inflator is the component that fills the bag in a crash. These inflators explode instead, according to the agency, and send large metal fragments into the driver’s chest, neck, eyes, and face.
NHTSA’s alert gives anyone driving a used vehicle four steps:
- Check the history: get a vehicle history report if you do not know whether the car was in an earlier crash.
- Have it inspected: a vehicle that was in a crash with an air bag deployment since 2020, and was not repaired at the manufacturer’s dealership, should be examined by a reputable mechanic.
- Leave the air bag alone: owners should not try to inspect an air bag themselves.
- Stop driving it: a vehicle found to have a DTN60DB inflator should not be driven until the inflator is replaced with genuine parts.
The agency also asks owners who find one of these inflators to report it.
What Maryland Law Says About Counterfeit Airbags
Md. Code, Transp. § 22-419 defines a counterfeit airbag as a replacement airbag displaying an unauthorized mark identical or substantially similar to the genuine mark of a vehicle manufacturer or its parts supplier. A nonfunctional airbag includes a replacement that was previously deployed or damaged. It also includes any object intended to make an owner believe it is a working airbag. The statute counts the inflator as part of the airbag.
A person may not knowingly import, sell, or install a counterfeit or nonfunctional airbag, or tell another person that one is functional. A violation is a misdemeanor carrying up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
Section 22-419 is a criminal statute. Its text does not address civil claims, which rest on negligence and on Maryland products liability law. Under those rules, a business that sells or installs a defective part may be responsible for the harm it causes.
Who Answers for a Defective Air Bag Claim
A crash in which the air bag itself injures someone raises two separate questions. The first is who caused the collision. Maryland’s contributory negligence rule, which can bar recovery by a person found even slightly at fault, applies to that question as it does in any crash. The second is why the air bag failed, and the answer is in the vehicle’s repair and sale history.
If an air bag in your vehicle ruptured, the car is the most important evidence you have. Keep it unrepaired and out of the salvage yard, along with the air bag module and any fragments. Repair invoices, the vehicle history report, title and auction records, and your own purchase paperwork show who handled the car and when.
The limitations period for a personal injury claim in Maryland is three years from the date the claim accrues under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101. A wrongful death claim must be filed within three years of the death under CJP § 3-904(g). An insurer that declares the car a total loss may send it to salvage long before either deadline, so a written request to preserve it should go out first.
We represent drivers and passengers across Maryland who were hurt in crashes, including people injured by a part of the car that was supposed to protect them. Our attorneys act quickly to keep the vehicle intact and trace where a replacement part came from. We bring in qualified engineers when the evidence calls for it. A claim like this can involve another driver, a repair shop, a dealer, and several insurers at once. We deal with each of them, and we handle these cases on contingency.
If an Air Bag Injured You in a Crash
An air bag injury claim depends on a vehicle that still exists and on records showing who worked on it. Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers represents injured drivers and passengers throughout Maryland, from Baltimore to the Washington suburbs. We offer a free consultation on any injury claim. Call (800) 654-1949 or send us a message and we will get back to you.