An eye injury from a car accident often looks minor at the scene. The airbag scratches the cornea, the eye bruises, and the blurry vision seems likely to clear on its own. Weeks later, the same injury can turn out to be a torn retina, a fractured eye socket, or a vision problem caused by a concussion. In New Jersey that difference matters for your sight and for your right to sue, because most drivers carry a policy with the verbal threshold. Below, we explain how these injuries happen, which symptoms need a specialist, and how the threshold measures them.
Crash-related eye injuries come from a short list of causes, and eye specialists have documented each one in the medical literature. Knowing the cause helps your eye doctor look for the right damage. It also helps your lawyer decide who is responsible.
An airbag deploys at very high speed, and it saves lives. Even so, the bag itself can strike the eye. Specialists have reported corneal abrasions, bleeding inside the front of the eye (hyphema), damage to the lens, and retinal tears and detachments after deployment. In addition, the powder released with the bag is alkaline, so it can burn the surface of the eye. Eyeglasses worn during the crash can also break and cut the eye or the eyelid.
Side windows shatter into small pieces, and loose objects inside the car fly forward. As a result, drivers and passengers suffer cuts to the cornea and eyelid, and sometimes a fragment lodges in the eye itself.
When the face hits the steering wheel, the dashboard, or a door pillar, the thin bones around the eye can break. A blowout fracture of the orbital floor can trap the muscles that move the eye, which causes double vision. It can also leave one eye sitting lower or deeper than the other.
Not every crash-related vision problem starts in the eye. A concussion or a more serious traumatic brain injury can disrupt how the eyes work together. The result can be double vision, trouble focusing, sensitivity to light, and headaches when reading. Severe brain injuries can cause permanent loss of part of the visual field. These cases overlap with our brain and spinal cord injury work.
Emergency rooms do a quick check, and an eye injury from a car accident often needs more than that. See an ophthalmologist promptly if you notice any of the following after a crash:
A retinal detachment is a medical emergency, and it can develop days or weeks after blunt trauma to the eye. Getting seen early protects your sight first. It also creates the medical record that ties the injury to the crash. That record matters, because insurers often argue that a problem diagnosed weeks later came from something else.
Most New Jersey drivers carry the limitation-on-lawsuit option. It is the default choice on a standard policy, and every basic policy includes it. With that option, you can sue for pain and suffering only if your injury fits one of the categories in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8(a). Our guide to the New Jersey verbal threshold explains the full rule and who it does not apply to. The table below shows where eye injuries usually fit.
| Threshold category | How an eye injury can fit |
|---|---|
| Displaced fracture | An orbital fracture in which the bone fragments have shifted out of position. A CT scan usually shows it clearly. |
| Significant disfigurement or scarring | Lasting scars on the eyelid, brow, or face from glass or airbag cuts, or a visible change in where the eye sits. |
| Permanent injury | A body part or organ that has not healed to function normally and will not with further treatment. Lasting vision loss, permanent double vision, optic nerve damage, loss of an eye, or a visual field defect after a brain injury can fit here. |
The categories do not all need the same proof. Imaging shows a displaced fracture. A permanent injury, by contrast, requires a doctor's opinion that the damage will not resolve, and that opinion must rest on objective clinical evidence. Since DiProspero v. Penn, 183 N.J. 477 (2005), you do not also have to prove that the injury had a serious impact on your life. That impact still matters, however, when a jury considers the harm.
Back and neck injuries often turn into arguments about pain that no test can see. An eye injury from a car accident is different, because eye doctors measure function directly. Visual acuity tests, visual field tests, eye-movement and alignment tests, slit-lamp exams, and retinal imaging such as optical coherence tomography all produce numbers and pictures. A CT scan shows an orbital fracture. This record is the objective clinical evidence the statute asks for. For that reason, careful testing early in treatment, and again once you stop improving, often decides whether the threshold is met.
Once you file suit and the threshold applies, you must serve a physician's certification within 60 days after the defendant answers the complaint. The signer must be your treating physician, or a board-certified physician your treating doctor referred you to. The certification states, under penalty of perjury, that the injury fits one of the threshold categories, and it must rest on objective clinical evidence. For an eye injury from a car accident, the right signer is usually the ophthalmologist, neuro-ophthalmologist, or oculoplastic surgeon who treated you. That is one more reason to see a specialist instead of relying only on emergency room notes.
Treatment for an eye injury from a car accident is paid first by your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, regardless of fault. PIP covers eye exams, imaging, and surgery up to your policy limit. A basic policy has a much lower PIP limit than a standard policy, and a serious eye injury can use it up. Beyond PIP, claims usually run against these parties:
Keep the vehicle and the airbag if a defect is possible. A product case can depend on the physical parts, and a car sent to salvage is often gone within days.
Personal attentionA corneal injury that never fully healed and a fractured eye socket get the same attention: a real investigation, an honest conversation about your options, and a firm that prepares every case as if it will go to trial.
The specialists, firstWe make sure the right eye specialist documents the injury with objective testing, and we work with your treating doctors on the certification the verbal threshold requires.
Our offices are in Elmwood Park and Cliffside Park in Bergen County, and we handle car accident cases across all of New Jersey. We file cases in the county where they belong, so distance from our office is not a factor. Our office works in English, Turkish, and Spanish. An eye injury from a car accident is usually one part of a larger crash case. For the broader picture, see our car accident page.
We are not limited to New Jersey and New York. Onal Injury Law has offices in New Jersey, New York, and Texas, and we review injury cases from anywhere in the United States. If your accident happened in another state, we evaluate the case. Then, where it must be filed in a court where we do not practice, we work with locally admitted counsel while our firm stays involved. Consultations are free and confidential, and there is no fee unless we recover for you.
Free, confidential consultation. Bring your eye doctor's name, any imaging reports, and your insurance declarations page, and we will tell you where your case stands.
Free Case Review (201) 335-6788 · English · Türkçe · EspañolYes, if another driver or a defective part caused the crash. If your policy carries the limitation-on-lawsuit option, the injury must also fit a verbal threshold category. Examples include a displaced orbital fracture, significant scarring, or a permanent injury proven with objective evidence.
It can. Displaced fractures are one of the threshold categories in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8(a), so an orbital fracture with shifted bone fragments can qualify on imaging alone. A fracture that is not displaced may still qualify as a permanent injury if it leaves lasting double vision or another loss of function.
Often, yes. A retinal detachment can develop days or weeks after blunt trauma, and vision problems after a concussion can take time to show. The key is a specialist who examines you, documents the findings, and explains the connection in your records. See an ophthalmologist as soon as symptoms appear.
It can. A brain injury can cause lasting double vision, focusing problems, or loss of part of the visual field. When a neuro-ophthalmologist or similar specialist measures the problem with objective testing and finds it will not resolve, it may meet the permanent-injury category.
Sometimes. An airbag that deploys normally and causes an injury is not automatically defective. However, a claim under the New Jersey Product Liability Act may exist if the airbag deployed when it should not have, failed to deploy, or ruptured. Keep the vehicle and the airbag module so they can be inspected.
Your own PIP coverage pays for treatment first, regardless of fault, up to your policy limit. Basic policies have much lower PIP limits than standard policies. Costs beyond PIP can be part of a claim against the at-fault driver.
Two years from the date of the crash under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. If a public entity is involved, such as a government vehicle, a Tort Claims Act notice is due within 90 days. Because specialist testing and the physician's certification take time, start early.
Yes. We review injury cases from every state. Because insurance rules and deadlines vary, contact us early. If the case must be filed in a court where we do not practice, we bring in locally admitted counsel and stay involved.
