Personal Injury Advocate
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Did a broken airbag, tire, or brake part hurt you or someone you love?

If a car part failed and someone got hurt, you are in the right place.

Are you in an emergency right now?

  • Check yourself and others for injuries.
  • Call 911 if anyone is hurt.
  • Move to safety away from traffic if you can.
  • Get medical care even if you feel fine. Injuries from a part failure are not always obvious right away.
  • This page is for after you are safe.

This page covers defective auto part claim deadlines and what to do right now. We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

Some car parts break because a driver made a mistake. Other times, the part itself was built wrong and never should have shipped, a product defect. It can happen with airbags, tires, brakes, seatbelts, fuel systems, and more. When a part fails on its own, the claim may not be a normal car crash claim at all. It may be a defective product claim, and the rules are different.

Why defective auto part cases are tricky

A part defect case is harder to spot than a simple crash. A cracked airbag inflator or a worn tire belt is not always obvious to the eye. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) tracks known safety defects in a public recalls database (NHTSA recalls search), so check it early.

The company that made your car may not be the company that made the broken part. Both can matter to a claim, and fault can be shared: sometimes a part failed and a driver also made an error.

The clearest example is the Takata airbag recall. Takata built inflators with a chemical propellant that could degrade over time, especially in heat and humidity, and rupture on deployment, shooting metal fragments into the vehicle. It became the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, covering roughly 67 million airbags across more than a dozen brands (NHTSA Takata recall spotlight). NHTSA has linked at least 28 deaths in the United States to ruptured Takata airbags.

How to check your own vehicle

Go to NHTSA.gov/Recalls and enter your VIN (vehicle identification number, a 17-character code on your dashboard, door frame, or registration card). The tool checks vehicles, car seats, tires, and equipment for open safety recalls. If a recall is open, the repair is free.

Protect your case

  1. Get medical care first. Some injuries from a part failure, like internal harm or shrapnel wounds, are not obvious right away.
  2. Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.
  3. Check your VIN for open recalls at NHTSA.gov/Recalls.
  4. Keep the damaged part if possible. Do not let a shop throw away a broken airbag, tire, seatbelt, or brake component.
  5. Keep repair and purchase records, including receipts and maintenance logs.
  6. Take photos of the part, the vehicle, and your injuries before repairs happen.
  7. Warning: don't wait! The filing deadline is a trap. It is different in every state, so people wait, and waiting kills cases. The longer you wait, the fuzzier memories get and the failed part can be repaired or scrapped before it is documented. Talk to an advocate immediately. And important: medical claims can have different, often shorter deadlines. Do not assume the standard rule covers a hospital or doctor case. Find your state on our state pages.

Never do these

What real defective auto part cases have paid

These are publicly reported results. They are examples only. No one can promise or predict what any case is worth, and many cases resolve for far less.

When a part defect causes a serious injury, the system can hold a manufacturer accountable.

When it goes wrong: a true story

Ashley Parham was 18, an all-state cheerleader in Oklahoma City, on her way to pick up her brother from football practice. She bumped another car in a minor parking lot collision. Her Honda's airbag deployed and threw a metal fragment that cut her carotid artery (the main blood vessel carrying blood to the head). She died from the injury. Her death, in 2009, was one of the earliest cases tied to the Takata airbag defect and helped push Honda toward its first recall of the part (News9 Oklahoma). The part that was supposed to protect her failed instead, and the system missed the defect for years. Talk to an advocate. They will introduce you to a lawyer who checks the facts from day one.

What we can help with

We help you understand how to check for open NHTSA recalls tied to your vehicle or part, understand your rights, and connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours. All of it is free to you. We never take money from injured people.

Talk to an advocate. A defective part is not your fault.

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