When you think about a car accident, you probably envision a collision between a car and another vehicle or a tree. One Georgia college student was almost fatally injured in a car accident, but it did not involve either of these scenarios. Instead the device that is supposed to keep her safe during a car accident seriously injured the woman.

While sitting at a traffic light back in April, the woman's driver and passenger side air bags randomly deployed. The deployment caused shrapnel to sever an artery in the woman's neck, nearly killing her. She eventually survived after being in intensive care for two weeks, where she underwent a number of surgeries.

The woman's lawyer is blaming Honda Motor Co., claiming that had the company been more efficient with its air bag recall, the accident would not have happened. Honda has made efforts to recall the defective airbags after it discovered they could inflate with too much force and send metal and plastic shrapnel hurtling toward the car's occupants. The recall started in November 2008, but the faulty air bags affected 2 million vehicles. The recall effort has been too slow, as 2009 saw 20 air bag accidents in the United States. Two people died as a result.

The woman injured in April filed a lawsuit against Honda and settled for an undisclosed amount of money. Coincidentally, she had an appointment to get the recalled air bag repaired, but the accident happened before the appointment. She said she wants to highlight the dangers of these air bags to the general public.

Her lawyer said if Honda's recall was more thorough, the accident would not have happened. Instead, the auto giant recalled air bags vehicle by vehicle. Even in non-traditional accidents, people who are injured through no fault of their own can pursue a lawsuit seeking monetary damages to help cover medical costs.

Source: Associated Press, "Air bag lawyer: Earlier, more comprehensive Honda recall could have avoided near fatal injury," Dec. 20, 2011