UK driver dies after inhaling contents of his car’s safety airbag

A MAN in the UK who was involved in a minor car crash died months later after breathing in the noxious contents of an airbag.

Ronald Smith’s wife June was relieved when he arrived home apparently uninjured following the crash, an inquest heard. However, he told her the airbag had been torn open by a shard of glass as it inflated and he had inhaled the gases it contained along with a large amount of white powder.

Smith, a 59-year-old grandfather, who had been extremely fit and active, then began to suffer chest and breathing problems. After several weeks he went to hospital where he was placed on a ventilator. Three weeks later he died of bronchial pneumonia.

“This man died as a result of the car crash,” said the coroner thereafter.

“And more pointedly because of the explosion of his airbag, and exposure to noxious substances.”

It is believed to be the first time a driver has died after inhaling the contents of an airbag. The accident that led to Smith’s death happened in November 2010 as he was returning home in his Opel Insignia. His head was flung forward by the impact and he inhaled the contents of the airbag, the inquest was told.

“He told me about the white powder straight away,” said Mrs Smith. “He said there was so much of it he couldn’t see. I just thought that the white powder had got into his lungs. I thought his body would get rid of it by itself – I didn’t think it would be permanent.”

The AA said it had no record of similar deaths.

A spokesman for Opel said the company planned to investigate the matter but did not wish to comment at this stage.

A British coroner has determined that a driver died from ‘white powder’and ‘noxious contents’ he breathed in following an accident in which his car’s airbag deployed.