A fatal case of air-bag-mediated liver injury in an unrestrained driver.

A middle-aged man, who drove a small vehicle while drunken and not wearing a seat belt, crashed head on into a pier wall at a high speed. The rapid air-bag deployment caused abdominal compression of the driver, who was found dead 2 m away from the car. There were facial front-glass injuries and multiple rib fractures, but no head injury. Autopsy disclosed liver laceration with intra-abdominal hemorrhage (2,000 mL), resulting in hemorrhagic shock. This is the first autopsy report of liver laceration caused by the rapid expansion of an air-bag during an automobile crash.