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Air bags are estimated to have saved at least 5,000 lives since their introduction. But the downside is that they have also caused thousands of injuries, some of them severe, and several deaths.

Many of the more serious cases involve Nissan. The 1994 and 1995 Nissan Altima has been implicated in at least 23 incidents of air bag injuries caused by bags deploying when the cars hit curbs, went over speed bumps or encountered other minor obstacles. Nissan changed the design in mid-1995 but many owners of the older Altimas are unaware of the danger.

In one case, a Lake Oswego, OR, woman suffered severe eye damage when the passenger-side air bag in her car deployed as a friend drove the car over a curb. The bag hit Norma Swanson at 159 miles per hour, breaking her nose, giving her a concussion and leaving her blind for six weeks. She later regained partial sight in one eye but remains legally blind in the other. Doctors testified she is at high risk of complications, including glaucoma and retinal detachment.

In the 1998 federal district court trial, a former General Motors engineer testified that safer air bag designs were available at the time the woman's Nissan was manufactured. He said most manufacturers at that time were using tethers to catch the airbag, letting the occupant fall into it. Nissan used an old design that delivers a 159-mile-per-hour knockout punch, he said.

The trial ended with an undisclosed settlement.

This sounds familiar to Nick of Blytheville, AR, who writes:
I was driving my '96 Nissan D21 regular-cab truck down county road 503 when the air bag deployed spontaneously without any collision. My left arm was forced through the closed driver-side window, breaking some of the glass out. And the air bag hit me in the face, causing me to lose steering control. The truck then went off the road hard -- right into a big ditch.

I called Nissan to report it and was told it was my fault the air bag went off. Nissan told me that the truck was safe and that there were no service bulletins or recalls on the air bag on that year truck.

But I found out that there was a technical service bulletin for the 1996 Nissan D21 truck and some of the other Nissan cars from 1993-1996. I found it on the NHTSA Web page; the TSB number is 96-082a, issued Sept. '96, "SRS control unit failure diagnosis."

I can not see how Nissan can say this was my fault. I was not driving fast and I did not hit a thing until the air bag went off and I lost control of the truck. I had a witness in the truck with me and a witness behind me that saw the air bag go off.

I got a bad burn to the inside of my left arm from the air bag and lost two teeth. I had a hairline fracture to my left elbow and neck and lower back pain. I have cord compression, has post traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and hypertension and anxiety. I have not been able to work in two years. The passenger suffered more minor injuries from whichi he has recovered.

I got five doctors and 12 prescriptions I take every day and Nissan will not help me. It is wrong for Nissan to do people this way.

We think Nick should retain a good personal injury lawyer, who may have better luck in getting Nissan's attention.

Josef of Brooklyn NY writes (7/14/01):
I am hurt, My neck is killing me and both my mother and father are on their way to the hospital. We just got into a car accident driving a 1996 Nissam Maxima. We were hit by an oncoming car which missed a stop sign. My car is GONE. BOTH AIR BAGS DID NOT OPEN. BOTH OF THEM. Forget about my airbag (I was driving), but my father hit his head dead onto the front deck. Both my parents are in the hospital now.

My father is a Dentist, and his hand is now injured. How is he going to work? I am in shock that the air bags and seat belts did not work properly. We were like dummies in a crash test gone wrong.

William of Whitestone NY (7/10/01):
I am the owner of a Nissan Altima Se 2001, the vehicle has 11,157 miles currently on the odometer. On July 4th, 2001 I was driving home Eastbound from Manhattan over the lower lever of the Queensboro Bridge. It had just started raining outside and the mist of the rain was beginning to cover the lower level of the bridge. The speed limit on the bridge is 30 mph.

I was accompanied by my girlfriend Lauren, who was seated in the front right passenger seat of the car. The passenger and myself were both wearing our harness/lap seat beats. Traffic was moving well over the bridge at the time, I was traveling approximately 30 mph. I was approximately 8 to 10 car lengths behind the car in front of me.

At approximately 11:00pm EST the vehicle in front of my vehicle a 1993 Plymouth Voyager suburban had come to a complete stop in traffic on the bridge. Noticing this ahead I began to apply the brakes to slow my vehicle down and bring it to a complete stop. I applied the brakes and to my surprise they instantly locked causing my vehicle to slide on the wet pavement. I had minimal control of my vehicle only when I would release my foot from the brake. When I was braking and sliding I had no control over my vehicle.

I removed my foot from the brake and once again applied my foot to the brake and tried to slow down my vehicle when the brakes once again instantly locked up causing my vehicle to slide on the wet pavement, I tried once again for a third time and got the same results causing my vehicle to slide at approximately 25 to 30 mph into the rear end of the vehicle in front of me. During the attempts to slow my car down I at no time pumped the brakes or had tire traction between the car tires and the road.

My passenger at the time was sleeping and was awakened by the car sliding, she screamed as we were about to hit, I threw my right arm across my passenger’s chest as a reaction to help prevent her from flying forward. Upon impact both my passenger and myself were thrown forward towards the windshield. My left arm was still holding onto the steering wheel as my right arm was trying to hold my passenger back.

My passenger was thrown forward and struck her head on the windshield/roof of the car causing her to sustain injuries to her head, neck and back. My passenger's legs also went into the dashboard of the car causing severe bruising and pain to her lower extremities. I myself sustained injuries to my left elbow from holding onto the steering wheel as we crashed. At no time during the impact between vehicles did the harness/lap beats or air bags engage to protect my passenger or me the driver. My vehicle sustained a full frontal impact with the vehicle in front of me.

I am afraid to drive the car even if it ir repairable. I am scared that if I take the car out again after it has been repaired and I get into another accident going even faster than this recent accident on the high way that the air bags will not deploy and someone will be killed. I feel the car is a lemon and I want Nissan to replace the car at no cost to me. The car has had more problems since I bought it than anything else.