Mystic Toad Press Blog

The airbag design is nothing new, and some people may be surprised to realise the idea has been in existence for over six decades. The first patent on an airbag for aeroplanes was lodged during World War Two. In the 80s, the very first commercial airbags were a safety feature in vehicles.

Right up to today, statistics indicate that airbags reduce the possibility of dying in a straight frontal crash by around thirty percent. Now there are also door mounted side and seat-mounted air bags. In fact, some motorcars go far further than just having dual airbags, and alternatively have six to eight air bags.

The purpose of an airbag is to slow the driver’s forward motion as smoothly as possible in just a split second. An air bag can accomplish this task in three steps:

• The airbag is composed of a slim, nylon fabric that’s packed inside the steering wheel or dashboard and, these days, the seat or door
• The detector is the gadget that orders the bag to expand. Inflation happens when there is a smash force equal to running into a brick wall at around 24 km an hour. A mechanical switch is flicked when there is a mass movement that cuts off an electrical contact, instructing the sensors that a crash has taken place. The detectors get data from an accelerometer that’s part of a silicon chip
• The airbag’s expansion system reacts sodium azide (NaN3) with potassium nitrate to produce nitrogen gas. Hot gusts of the gas inflate the air bag

Due to the very fast deployment of an air bag, it’s fundamental the driver and passenger sit in an upright position allowing a safe distance between their face and the steering wheel / dashboard - this allows time for the bag to inflate while they are being pushed forward by the affect of the smash.