HOUSTON -- Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008, on KPRC Local 2 at 10 p.m.

Tonight, Local 2 Investigates looks into your car's air bags. When you need them the most, will those air bags really protect you and your family in a serious crash?

We've uncovered wreck after wreck in Houston where air bags did not deploy in new cars.

Investigative reporter Robert Arnold shows you the accidents and discovers why we may never know how often it's really happening.

Crash tests clearly show the benefits of air bags. They're designed to save lives.

But we found Houston-area accidents you haven't heard about. They were violent, front-end crashes with new cars all equipped with air bags that never deployed during an accident.

"My air bag never deployed," said Elmer Parada, a Houston driver injured in a serious crash.

Parada spent two weeks in a coma with severe head injuries. When the 20-year-old rear-ended a truck on the 610 West Loop, the passenger-side air bag deployed, but Parada's driver's-side air bag did not.

His head slammed against his car's steering wheel, leaving him with permanent brain damage.

"Every day, I have to wake up thinking about how I'm not the same," said Parada.

"We expect it (air bag system) to work," said Rob Ammons, Parada's attorney. "We hope it will work. Unfortunately, we're seeing cases where it doesn't happen."

Ammons has filed a dozen other lawsuits after similar Houston-area crashes. He argues air bags should have provided protection in the accidents, but instead they never deployed.

"We have scientific proof that shows these types of injuries are the kinds air bags should prevent," said Ammons. "That's why we put the air bag in is so if we're in this type of crash, we don't get hurt this way."

The family of Houston mother Jessica Engelbrecht says her minivan's air bags failed her, too.

Engelbrecht was driving home from a beach trip to surfside in 2006. That's when convicted drunk driver Elden Carter's truck hit her Chrysler minivan head-on at the top of a overpass in Clute in Brazoria County.

Despite the severe crash, the air bags in Engelbrecht's minivan did not deploy. She died in the hospital a day later.

The air bags in Carter's truck did deploy. He survived and is now serving a life sentence for driving drunk.

Engelbrecht's family is suing Chrysler. They argue the air bags should have deployed in the accident, and if so, they would have saved her life.

So should air bags go off in every severe crash? Chrysler says no. A company spokesperson says you can't determine if the air bags should have deployed by just looking at the damage.

He says air-bag systems use complicated, highly scientific sensors to determine if air bags should deploy.

In Engelbrecht's crash, Chrysler says it's still waiting on the mini-van's own computer data to determine whether the air bags should have deployed.

In a written statement, Chrysler tells Local 2 Investigates, "This was a tragic accident and our deepest sympathies are with the Engelbrecht family. Until that information is available, any attempt to characterize the airbag's operation based on the vehicle's post accident appearance is purely speculative, premature and not grounded in fact."

We've discovered the Houston-area accidents are not isolated claims.

Take a quick look on the Internet, and you'll see complaint after complaint from other drivers who claim air bags on cars from almost every make and model did not deploy in high-speed, front-end wrecks.

So, is anyone keeping an official count? While automakers like Chrysler and BMW have had recent air-bag-related recalls, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells Local 2 Investigates it does not keep a database of air-bag non-deployment crashes.

The agency says that's primarily because local police, not engineering experts, file accident reports.

However, in a recent look at the information it does keep, NHTSA tells us it found at least 370 accidents in six years where it believes air bags should have deployed and could have helped drivers and passengers.

"I thought everything was going to be OK when I got the vehicle," says Parada.

Parada says his Houston crash should be added to NHTSA's list. He believes he's paying the price for air-bag protection he didn't receive.

Automakers stress that air bags are not the answer to every crash. Chrysler says what can look like a head-on collision might actually be more of a side-impact wreck. In those cases, air bags may not help, but can hurt because the driver can be out of the driver's position.

If you've had a crash where the air bags did not deploy, NHTSA wants to hear about it.

You can call NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 or go to www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq to file a complaint.

While you may never know your air bags are not working until after a crash, there are some red flags to look for.

Ammons says if your air-bag light is going on and off, or if it's constantly blinking, you need to get that checked out by a dealer.