An atlanto-occipital dislocation is a rare airbag-induced injury in trauma patients. We report a case of an atlanto-occipital dislocation in a 6-year-old patient who was an unrestrained passenger in the front seat of a vehicle involved in a low-speed motor vehicle accident. This case illustrates the fatal threat of airbag deployment to the child passenger travelling in the vehicle front seat even in a low-speed collision, and supports the recommendation that children under 12 years of age travelling in vehicles with dual airbag systems should be seated in the back.
We present a case of a fatal motor vehicle collision of a 22-year-old car driver, who died at the scene after losing control of his car, and subsequently collided with a tree by the roadside. The subsequent autopsy revealed penetrating injuries on the neck, severing the larynx, carotid artery, jugular vein and fracturing the cervical vertebrae. Internal examination showed the offending material to be a semi-cylindrical metal fragment, which had lodged within the paravertebral muscle. Examination of the car with the authorities found that the metal fragment originated from a defective airbag booster cannister, which shattered upon deployment.
According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics motor vehicle accidents are the third leading cause of death in Malaysia and accounts for 7.4% of premature deaths in 2016. With the invention of the airbag, the number of serious injuries and fatalities have been reduced significantly. However, there has also been a corresponding increase in the number of injuries attributable to these devices. The patient narrated in this case report sustained a mixed dermal thickness burn over the upper limb as a result of an airbag deployment. She recovered without other life threatening injuries.