Today airbags are a common part of every vehicle, one of several safety features present. But when was this device first found in vehicles?
If we want to find the answer, we have to dig properly into history. Specifically, to 1952, when John W. Hetrick created the first air pillow (airbag) for an automobile. It needs to be said that an airbag had already been used before then, in the 1940s in the aviation industry. This safety feature subsequently gained attention in 1967, when the carmaker Chrysler bought it.
And so that the airbag’s path on the road to regular use isn’t a direct one, the first trials of a series of automobiles with an airbag took place in 1971, on the Ford assembly lines. Commercial use in a wider range followed in 1972 in the model Chevrolet Impala.
Continuing Development
In the years we are speaking about the airbag became an alternative to the seat belt (their use was mandatory from January 1967; thus, last year they celebrated the 50th anniversary of compulsory use). We must then shift to March 1981, when the brand Mercedes-Benz began to deal with tuning the function of the driver-side airbag and seat belt. The German brand made history by introducing a driver-side airbag. Incidentally, the reputation of the innovator in terms of safety features continued in the following years, for instance, with the introducing the passenger airbag, which the Stuttgart car-maker decided to start using in the autumn of 1987. In the same year the first Volvo with a driver-side airbag rolled off the assembly line. The following year the passenger-side airbag became a part of the automobile class S and from the autumn was also in type 124 vehicles.
And so that the airbag’s path on the road to regular use isn’t a direct one, the first trials of a series of automobiles with an airbag took place in 1971, on the Ford assembly lines.
This safety accessory could be ordered only in combination with a driver-side airbag and it needs to be noted that this was no inexpensive feature. Obviously, here, too, the rule applied that the gradual increasing in production volume brought a significant reduction in the cost of this life-saving element. An important milestone occurred in 1994, when the airbag for the driver and passenger became standard features in some models of the brand Mercedes-Benz.
How Does It Work?
With collisions of a certain intensity, a bumper sensor is activated, and this sends an activation to the control unit of the airbag. The airbag subsequently blows up at lightning speed (within 40 milliseconds) and catches the body of the passenger. In the next phase, it then deflates, so the process of calming the collision runs as easily as possible. Here it is necessary to emphasize that airbags function one-hundred percent only in cooperation with seat belts and it is important to stick to the principle of correct seating of the driver behind the wheel. This also applies to the passenger; wantonly putting feet up on the dashboard, for example, can have very serious consequences on a passenger if the airbag is activated.
Various Applications
Airbags are not found only for the two front-seat passengers – over time other possible uses have been found. Side airbags are used, side head airbags, knee airbags and so often 7 various airbags are on offer. Efforts at separating the driver and passenger by the airbag have even been found. The first car-maker which developed this is General Motors – it develops from the right-hand side of the seat back of the driver. And not even pedestrians have been forgotten; Volvo has looked at the idea of using airbags which would be focused on the consequences of a collision with a vehicle. The Swedish brand ultimately gave up on the idea, but Mercedes-Benz wants to continue with it and has had airbags places on the front windscreen posts of the car body patented. They will function in combination with an active engine bonnet.
Ford got involved in the subject of airbag development when in 2014 it introduced knee-level airbags for passengers (protecting the knees and legs) and practically at the same time a large window airbag intended for the Ford Transit was found (to protect passengers as far back as five rows). Other airbag crew safety solutions include the use of an external side airbag. The company TRW says that their airbag shows in tests up to 30% absorption of the collision energy.
Text: Peter Stano, photo: Mercedes-Benz
