Toyota airbags did not deploy - legal action?

[issha]

What is the name of your state? WA (Washington)

My dad was driving about 60mph on I-90 when the SUV in front of him suddenly hit the brakes - possibly to a complete stop. He was about 3-4 car lengths back. The reason the SUV hit the brakes was because there was a huge bookshelf-like thing in the middle of the highway. My dad was braking, but couldn't stop in time and ended up rear-ending the SUV. He drives a 2002 Toyota Camry. The total front end is smashed in. The left headlight has fallen off, the radiator blew up, and the car doesn't start anymore. With all that, none of the airbags deployed. Needless to say, my dad was injured. Here's a link to the pictures I took with my camera phone:
www.kawaii-mise.com/photos/20050921-camryaccident
With this kind of damage, one would expect the airbags to deploy! So, two questions:
1) Is anybody considered at fault here?
2) Can we take legal actions against Toyota since their airbags did not deploy?
I greatly appreciate any help and advice.

 

[racer72]

My answer to you is the exact same answer I gave in this thread.

1. Your father for following to closely.
2. Nope.

 

[issha]

1) My dad was not following too close behind. He was 3-4 car lengths away. That's the 4-second rule for driving on the freeway, isn't it? The police were on the scene and did not issue him a ticket. How can he be at fault when he was observing the rules of the law?

2) Why isn't it possible to take legal action against Toyota? What good are the airbags if they're not designed to deploy during an accident? Especially since the car was smashed so bad. The ER doctors even told me that my dad was lucky he was not more injured considering the speed of the vehicles. I do NOT want to rely on luck. I want to rely on the safety features of the vehicle I am entrusting a human life within.

 

[Darth]

Well 3-4 car lengths is not far enough to stop at 60 mph,
ive heard of this before its basically a rerend your father didnt have control of the car they will say.

 

[issha]

what's the point of this "4-second-rule" then if it doesn't work @ 60 mph?? @ regular streets the following distance is the 2-second-rule, and on freeways it's 4-seconds.

 

[divgradcurl]

what's the point of this "4-second-rule" then if it doesn't work @ 60 mph?? @ regular streets the following distance is the 2-second-rule, and on freeways it's 4-seconds.

The "rule" is not a "law," it's a "rule of thumb" -- an estimate. If you follow 4 seconds behind someone else on a freeway, the average driver should have enough time to stop, in normal weather conditions -- that's where the "rule of thumb" comes from. However, following 4 seconds behind does NOT relieve you of liability if, for whatever reason, in a particular situation you cannot stop in time. You (or your dad, in this case) as a driver are required to maintain control of your car at all times, and if you rearend someone, that means you either weren't paying attention or, by definition, you didn't leave yourself enough room to stop.

Basically, if your dad had left enough room to stop in case the guy in front of him stopped suddenly, then your father wouldn't have hit the guy in front of him. He hit the guy, so he didn't leave enough room.

 

[stephenk]

"He was 3-4 car lengths away. That's the 4-second rule for driving on the freeway, isn't it?"

you are confused. 3-4 car lengths does not equate to following a vehicle at a distance that would take 4 seconds to reach going 60 mph.

The rule of thumb is 2 seconds at 60 mph. While driving behind a vehicle, note when that vehicle passes a stationary object (light pole). Count how long it takes for you to pass that same object. If it is less than 2 seconds, you are following too closely.

 

[issha]

I wasn't in the vehicle with my dad at the time of the accident, so I'm not sure exactly what the conditions were. He's 63 years old, so maybe he was just slower to react. I'll admit he is at fault then since that's usually the rule - whomever rearends another vehicle is at fault. Something like that. In any case. I'm in the state of Washington, so it might differ from California law. I believe reading the the traffic ed handbook that the "rule of thumb" is to drive 4 seconds behind the vehicle in front of you on the freeway. Normal roads are 2 seconds. Something like that. Any case, thank you all for your responses. I appreciate your time.
All except racer72 though because all his answers are rude and sarcastic (read his posts).

 

[rxis]

The damage to the front end of my 2001 Lexus IS300 seems much more than your car and my airbags didn't deploy either. I wish it had as it probably would have saved some aches and pains. I don't think it it would have helped by back though so I doubt I came into any serious harm from it not deploying. I wonder what the legal parameters are for airbag deployments.

I've heard that airbags nowadays use more advanced sensors to determine how and when an airbag should safely deploy. Perhaps in my case the sensors determined that it wasn't necessary to have the airbags deployed at all since seat belt would protect me. I still feel that a reduced force deployment would have helped me in my case, but I guess I don't have much factual basis for my opinion.