Air bag deployment 23 June 2011 location: Pleasant valley trail, panamint mountains, death valley national park, ca time: Approximately 6 pm I was driving on a popular 4X4 trail on the western edge of death valley national park on the evening of 23 June 2011. I was alone and crawling down a steep decline in 4 wheel drive, low range, in 1st gear. I made a transition from one set of deep ruts to another. The car rocked from the driver's side to the passenger side and back. The motion was abrupt, but not violent in any way, and the same motion that any other vehicle that travels on this popular trail would face. On completion of the rocking motion the side curtain airbags deployed. At the time of deployment my face was against the window checking my side clearance on the road. My elbow was resting on the window sill, and I was steering with one hand at the 9 O'clock position and the other at the 5 O'clock position. On deployment my face was struck on the left front and side, leaving me with facial pain, bruising, a bloody nose, and ringing ears. The arm resting on the window sill was forced down and forward, levering my shoulder up and forward. I was dazed and disoriented for a few minutes. The seatbelt pre-tensioner fired, pulling the belt tight enough around my pelvis to leave bruises and pain. I was very lucky that the incident occurred while I was in first gear, low range. The vehicle stopped when I pulled my foot from the accelerator, if I had been in 4 wheel high range the vehicle would have likely continued downhill and gone over the embankment and down a 400' 60 degree slope. This is a significant product design error and could have resulted in far greater injuries or death. The motion that set off the deployment was one that I have had on hundreds of occasions with other vehicles in my more than 30 years of off road driving experience. It occurred on a popular trail used by thousands of vehicles each year.

- Long Beach, CA, USA