Not many individuals know that the design of the airbag – a soft cushion to land against in a smash – has been around for over 60 years. The first patent on an air bag for air planes was submitted during World War 2. During the 80s, the first commercial airbags appeared in automobiles.

Up to the present day, stats reveal that airbags reduce the risk of dying in a square anterior crash by around 30 percent. Now there are also seat-mounted and door mounted side airbags. In point of fact, some automobiles go way further than merely having twin airbags, and alternatively have 6 to 8 air bags.

An airbag’s task is to ease the forward motion of the driver in only a fraction of a second. An airbag can achieve this job in 3 steps:

• The bag itself is composed of a slim, nylon fabric that’s compressed inside the dashboard or steering wheel and, these days, the door or seat
• The sensor is the gadget that instructs the airbag to inflate. Expansion happens when there is a crash force equal to driving into a brick wall at 10 to 15 miles an hour. A switch is flicked when there is a weight movement that closes an electrical contact, instructing the sensors that a smash has taken place. The detectors get data from an accelerometer built into a microchip
• The bag’s inflation system reacts sodium azide (NaN3) with potassium nitrate to develop nitrogen gas. Hot eruptions of the gas blow up the airbag

Due to the superfast inflation of an air bag, it’s a safety requirement that the driver and passenger sit in the seat with a straight back allowing a good distance between their face and the steering wheel / dashboard – this sets aside time for the bag to expand while they are being pushed forward by the shock of the crash.