Can a manufacturer be sued if airbags didn't deploy?

You ask a good question. However, its a difficult one to directly answer without more information. As a rule of thumb, law suits require "damages." Simply stated, under negligence law, its not enough that someone did something wrong like put airbags in a car that did not deploy. You can't sue simply because someone made a mistake. That is where "damages" comes to play. Damages represent in a legal sense, some sort of loss or injury. Your question does not provide that information. Also, you didn't state if the car was going 2 mph or 90 mph. There's a few more considerations. So given the lack of information, the best I can do is say that its possible. If you have suffered any sort of loss or injury, of any kind, you should consult with an attorney, who obviously will know what to ask.