Swanson v. Nissan; product liability
Portland resident Norma Brainerd (then Swanson) purchased a 1994 Nissan Altima specifically because it featured a passenger side air bag. She felt that feature would help make her and her children safer. At the time, there had been little in the news about air bags posing a risk. In December 1995 — just three nights before Christmas — Brainerd was the passenger in her Altima when the driver misjudged a turn and ran over an eight inch curb. The impact was minor, but the vehicle's air bags deployed and Brainerd was forcefully struck in the face. She was properly seat-belted and had her seat halfway back in the seat track. The air bag broke her nose, gave her a concussion and left her blind for six weeks. She regained the sight in her right eye but is legally blind in her left.

Following the accident, Brainerd began looking for an attorney to hold Nissan accountable for her injuries. "It wasn't just for me. I wanted to get those cars off the road." A friend led her to Larry Baron. "I was impressed with his determination," she says. "He really did a good job all the way to court. He dug into it and kept unearthing more and more cases where the same thing had happened to other people."

In his research for the case, Baron found evidence that the Altima's air bag had been designed to strike the occupant while still inflating. It flew out at the occupant at a speed of 159 miles per hour. All this was contrary to a basic premise of air bag design — that a bag be fully inflated before the occupant falls into it. Baron discovered over 20 other women and children who had sustained serious eye injuries in accidents involving 1994 and 1995 Nissan Altimas. He also learned that while the driver side air bag had tethers, the passenger side did not. Tethers are straps inside the bag that prevent it from traveling too far back into the vehicle. He learned statistically that air bags were not needed in low impact collisions.

In November 1998, Brainerd's case proceeded to a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Portland. "As we got close to the trial date, I was really scared," Brainerd recalls. "But Larry demonstrated this quiet determination. He helped me get through with his sense of assuredness and confidence." The trial began but on the third day the case settled.

Brainerd remained frustrated the cars were still on the road and other people stood a chance of getting hurt. In August 2002, Brainerd and her husband traveled to Washington, DC to participate in a Public Citizen news conference calling for the recall of 1994 and 1995 Altimas. "In the years since my accident, numerous other people have been injured by this same air bag," she told reporters. "Nissan remains aware of the defective product but has done nothing to recall and replace it. How many defective air bags will unexpectedly take the precious vision of other innocent victims before Nissan recalls this air bag?"

On April 24, 2003, Nissan finally announced a program to recall the Altimas and replace their defective device. Many observers believe the pressure Baron and Brainerd brought against Nissan was significant in moving the car company to initiate the recall.

In January 2004, Gaytan was involved in a collision near Hermiston that would be described by most people as a simple fender bender. After receiving a green light at an intersection, the vehicle in front of her accelerated but then stopped suddenly forcing Gayton to hit the back of it. Unfortunately, the airbag in her 2002 Dodge Neon deployed unnecessarily and with extreme force, crushing her right eye. Gaytan was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the collision, and if the airbag had not fired during the crash, she would have suffered no injuries.

Although damage to both cars was minimal, the damage to Gaytan’s eye was catastrophic. The unfolding bag slammed Gaytan in the face, smashing apart her glasses and rupturing the globe of her eye. After surgeons made every attempt to save the eyeball (vision was lost forever on impact), it was surgically removed and replaced with a prosthesis.

With the help of Larry Baron, Gaytan filed a claim against manufacturer DaimlerChrysler for a defectively designed airbag sensor system. Experts retained by Baron reported the single point sensor system in the 2002 Neon was at the heart of the problem. The sensor not only ordered the airbag to fire late, it caused the airbag to launch despite the fact that the collision was not severe enough to warrant deployment.

Baron’s experts argued that an effective sensor system should have sensors located at the front of the vehicle so that there can be early reception of a crash signal and a proper interpretation of it. DaimlerChrysler settled the case when Baron presented his evidence of the defective nature of the manufacturer’s airbag deployment system.

Thanks to Baron's help, Gaytan received compensation for her medical bills and the permanent loss of her right eye.

Ali Warsome fled his native country of Somalia for a better life in the US. Unfortunately, his life changed dramatically for the worse as the result of a car accident on April 28, 2002.

On that day, Warsome was riding in a 1994 Nissan Altima and traveling from his home in Falls Church VA to Washington DC. He was headed to the bus station to visit his daughter in Minnesota. The driver, one of his sons, was attempting a sudden lane change when the car struck a traffic barrier. It wasn't much of a crash — the Altima didn't even need a tow, it was still drivable. However, the impact caused the passenger side air bag to inflate. The air bag struck Warsome's face with such force that his left eye had to be removed. Surgeons were unable to restore the vision in his right eye because – according to his medical records – "the retina was completely shredded." Ali Warsome lost his eyesight because of the impact of the air bag."I cannot see the sky anymore," the 74-year-old immigrant told a reporter. "I cannot cook, I cannot walk, I cannot help my grandchildren.... I don't know what to do."Warsome's Washington DC attorney, John F. Kennedy, brought Larry Baron in as co-counsel because of Baron's experience prosecuting the Altima air bag cases. Baron and Kennedy documented the defective operation of the airbag. They noted how at least 40 other individuals — riding as passengers in Altimas — had been blinded or otherwise suffered damage to their eyes as a result of the force with which the air bag strikes a passenger's face. Eventually Nissan agreed to an undisclosed settlement with Warsome.

Warsome supported the April 2003 recall of the airbags in the 1994 and 1995 Nissan Altimas. He was featured in a Los Angeles Times newspaper article documenting the product defect just months prior to the recall. This was one of many pressure points applied to Nissan that eventually led to the car company’s decision to replace the air bags.

Court Denies Nissan Motion for Summary Judgment
US District Court rules that a release signed by the plaintiff for the primary insurers does not release Nissan.

Nissan Altima test video
Video stops action at point of impact of air bag

1994 Nissan Altima TV ad
Nissan commercial shows air bags in action

KATU Air bag Investigative Report
May 17, 2004 KATU TV

The Making of a Recall: Eight years of reliving nightmare end in victory
July 2003 SideBar, monthly newsletter of Oregon Trial Lawyers Association

Dateline Air bag Investigative Report UPDATE
May 7, 2003 NBC Dateline

KATU Air bag Replacement Report
April 24, 2003 KATU TV

Nissan Altima Air Bags Recalled
April 24, 2003 Public Citizen

Air Bag Lawsuits Blame Nissan for Eye Injuries
November 18, 2002 LA Times

Nissan Altima Air Bags Blind People
August 7, 2002 Public Citizen

Air bag Investigative Report
July 23, 2002 NBC Dateline

Nissan Settles Swanson (Brainerd) Lawsuit
October 23, 1998 Associated Press