Air Bags

 

One of the most important car safety devices since the seatbelt.


The Airbag has been introduced into cars in the UK over the last 10 years or so. The Airbag's main function is to reduce injuries caused as a result of your head or body hitting the steering wheel or dashboard during a collision. 

The introduction of Airbags has not been without problems. In America during the 1970s, Airbags were used but they were unreliable. For example, they could deploy by just going over a large hole or bump in the road, with unpredictable and dramatic results. It wasn’t until the mid 1990s that they once more made their appearance in production cars because by then they had been made totally reliable.

Today the device is considered to be one of the most important safety devices since the seatbelt was first introduced in the 1960s.

The technology has been further developed to include many different Airbag deployment systems that are even safer for the occupants. There are many other "Supplemental Restraint Systems" (SRS) found in modern cars and they include such items as Seatbelt Pre-tensioners, Side Impact Airbags inside the rear door pillars and even Airbags in the doors themselves, to name but a few.

But how does it all work?

Well, basically it is all done with controlled explosives!

Airbags have to be stored in similar conditions to firearms.

When a vehicle has an accident over a certain speed (e.g. 20mph) a sensor will trigger the Airbags and other safety systems almost instantly. 

Research by the motor manufacturers over the years has enabled them to reduce further the deployment time, allowing improved protection and less danger of serious injury.

Remember that babies and all other frail and weak persons must not be positioned in front of or near an Airbag. In some cases your can switch the passenger Airbag or system off. 

The typical standard Airbag is housed in the centre of the steering wheel along with the inflator. To inflate the Airbag, there is an igniter that activates some compressed gas capsules and these fill the bag with an inert gas when an impact above a certain force is sensed. The whole inflation process occurs within a split second and the bag is completely deployed in less than a second, enough time to restrain the occupant.

The Airbag will not activate without the system being given the go-ahead by the on-board sensors. They have to sense vehicle speed (generally over 5 mph), deceleration of the vehicle and any impact to the front, rear or sides of the car body for the system to become active. When this information is received by the Airbag Control Unit it is processed and an instruction is sent to the Airbag for it to deploy.

The Airbags are situated in the steering wheel centre, in the dashboard on the passenger side, in the side of the seats, in the front headrests facing rearward and in the roof pillars and lining depending on the make and model of car.

If the Airbag were to deploy it would have to be replaced by trained technicians who would have the special knowledge and equipment to safely install a new one. Your local garage will be able to carry out this work. For safety reasons, any work on the Airbag or SRS systems must not be carried out by anyone unfamiliar with the correct repair procedures. It is very dangerous to attempt to remove them yourself.

 

 

 

 Not all Air bag equipped steering wheels have  to look bad
Though some dont make quite so much effort
Lexus Seat side air bag  not quite so stylish, looks more like a walkman
Audi makes a good effort at hiding the air bag