Personal Injury Law

Iowa Car/Truck Collisions - After a car accident there may be a claim against the autobody shop for faulty work.

By Steve Lombardi

If you've had your car repaired at the local body shop, and you're involved in a post-repair accident you might consider having the car towed to a different body shop. There are indications that air bag repairs are being improperly performed. You, the owner, are told the airbag is being "repacked", when in fact that is a meaningless repair and the airbag will not deploy again.

* A deployed airbag must be replaced! It cannot be "repacked." In fact, most of the airbag system's parts are not repairable - they must be replaced. For the system to function correctly in another collision, the proper parts must be purchased and installed by a qualified technician.

If that happens you don't have the protection you expect and may have a claim against the body shop that "repacked" the airbag. Even if you've rear ended another car you may have such a claim. I would not recommend it unless the driver or passengers have serious injuries. The most important thing to do is to preserve the car. Following an collision the car or truck is usually purchased by the insurance company and then sold at auction or destroyed. It must be preserved to make such a claim.

Protect yourself, your rights and be aware.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on February 17, 2008 (boomark / email).