Scot killed by breathing airbag's noxious fumes after car crash

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Scot killed by breathing airbag's noxious fumes after car crash
May 29 2012 By Stephen White



A DRIVER died after breathing in fumes from an airbag during a car crash.
Scot Ronald Smith wasn’t injured in the pile-up but began suffering chest and breathing problems almost immediately after inhaling the noxious chemicals.
South Tyneside Coroner Terence Carney heard the dad-of-two from Bents, near Whitburn, died in January last year after the accident on November 12, 2010.
His widow June said: “I knew from the very beginning that it was the airbag. I just knew but other people would look at me as if to say, ‘don’t be silly’.
“Ronnie told me about the white powder straight away. He said there was so much of it he couldn’t see.
“It’s just not fair that you have to lose someone because of something that is meant to save a life.”
Ronald, 59, was driving through Hartlepool on his way home when he was involved in a six-car shunt.
The engineer, originally from Paisley, crashed into the car in front at the same time that another car hit the back of his Vauxhall Insignia.
The impact triggered the car’s airbag but also broke a window, which cut the bag, and he inhaled the gas from inside it.
June told the inquest her husband was not injured in the accident, but that his face was red from an irritation caused by the contents of the airbag.
He then began suffering from a cough and shortness of breath.
On January 5 last year, he was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital.
June said: “He just couldn’t breathe and he was very distressed. He could barely move.
“It was a very cold winter and he was really struggling.
“We used to walk everywhere but he got so bad he couldn’t walk a few steps without my help.
“Ronnie has never smoked so that was very worrying. He started to cough a lot as well.
“Eventually, I got him into hospital. he kept saying he would be fine and he just needed rest.
“But he was practically disabled. He couldn’t move and could only sit on the sofa propped up with cushions.
“I got worried because at night his breathing was so shallow and frantic.”
Ronald, who had two sons, Jamie, 32, and Lee, 36, was taken to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and given a chest X-ray.
The next day, he was moved to intensive care but he died in hospital on January 31 last year.

June added: “He was put on a ventilator. “That was the last time I spoke to him because he was on a ventilator for the last 21 days of his life.
“The consultant called me and the boys into a room and told us that Ron was very seriously ill and there was only a 10 per cent chance of survival.
“I knew then that he wasn’t going to come home.”
Forensic pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton told the inquest Ronald’s lungs were both extremely “heavy and firm”, adding that they showed signs of infection and that Ronald died of bronchial pneumonia.
Coroner Mr Carney said: “I accept the death was attributed to bronchial pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis and that it was developed after this incident in November, and the deceased’s exposure to noxious substances.
“This man died as a result of this incident and more pointedly because of the explosion of his airbag, and this death should be recorded as misadventure.”
Lee, 36, said: “It’s the verdict I was looking for. We wanted an investigation to see if anybody was to blame and I’m happy with what the coroner said.”
A Vauxhall spokesman said the firm planned to probe the matter but did not wish to comment at this stage.
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