Pneumothorax, without chest wall fracture, following airbag deployment

Air bags are an automatic crash protection system. They have been shown to reduce mortality from motor vehicle accidents by 31% following direct head-on impacts, by 19% following any frontal impact and by 11% overall. Despite obvious benefits there has been a corresponding increase in the number of injuries resulting from their deployment. We describe a case of a pneumothorax in the absence of chest wall pathology associated with airbag deployment, in a belted driver. There has been one previous description of pneumothorax associated with airbag deployment, in an unbelted driver.