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Trauma as a result of airbag deployment is not uncommon. A cursory glance at the literature reveals reports of skeletal, brain, otologic, ophthalmic, vascular, cardiac, respiratory and neurological trauma, burns and death following airbag deployment.1 These injuries have usually been sustained as a result of failure or misuse of airbags utilised in restraint systems.
Few people are familiar with suspension airbags. These high pressure devices reside beneath vehicles providing shock absorption (fig 1). The significantly increased pressure within these airbags renders their misuse extremely dangerous.
We present a case of a spontaneously rupturing suspension airbag, resulting in serious facial trauma.
A 53-year-old man was attempting to repair the suspension airbag on the undercarriage of his articulated vehicle. To save time he decided not to raise the vehicle. The airbag spontaneously ruptured, traumatising the mid and lower face of the patient (fig 2). The patient sustained significant facial lacerations, a fractured mandible, comminuted maxillary fracture, the loss of several teeth, and displacement of his partial denture into the nasopharynx.
Suspension airbags, or air springs as they are also known, increase vehicle stability and comfort. The pressure within these airbags is and may exceed 300 psi. Maximum load capacities may reach 5000 lbs per bag.
Our patient was fortunate as failing to adhere to the basic safety precautions—that is, raising the vehicle by the frame, thereby reducing the bag pressure—before attempting maintenance of the airbag clearly has potentially serious consequences.
Acknowledgments
This article has been adapted with permission from Burke GAE, Chawla O. Suspension airbags: a potential danger. Emerg Med J 2007;24:144.
Footnotes
Competing interests: none.