Airbag History: Poisonous but irreplaceable. Airbags: types, device, purpose and principle of operation Where are airbags located

Hello dear guests and readers of the blog Autoguid.ru Today in the article we will learn how the airbags of our cars work. The crown of the evolution of car safety systems is the airbag. Hundreds of thousands of accidents and tens of thousands of lives saved are a prime example of the effectiveness of the use of airbags in modern cars.

Any driver who gets behind the wheel of a vehicle is automatically at risk of getting into a traffic accident. Often the cause of an accident can be your own carelessness or the mistakes of other road users. Even low speed is fraught with danger to the driver and his passengers. Car collisions at speeds of 60 km/h can be fatal. Airbags were invented to protect the driver and passengers in the event of an accident.

The increase in the number of motor vehicles on the roads led to a rapid increase in accidents. The rules at the dawn of the automotive industry were still in their infancy and control by law enforcement agencies was not sufficiently established. The first traffic police units, which had no experience, were just appearing.

Due to design flaws and a significant mass of vehicles, many accidents ended in death or severe disability of the participants in the collision. According to statistics, the number of victims on the roads has increased every year due to the increase in the use of road transport.

The first design element designed to reduce the number of victims of road accidents was the appearance of a seat belt. Its use allowed to reduce sad statistics by 30%. Until the 90s of the last century, due to the peculiarities of the development of technological progress, it was not possible for engineers of automobile companies to introduce new security systems into cars. The seat belt remained the only chance for the driver and passengers to minimize the harmful consequences of an accident.

The advent of airbags in cars was a turning point in improving the safety of road users. In the late 90s of the last century in the United States, at the legislative level, the mandatory equipment of a car with airbags was fixed. In frontal collisions, airbags reduce the risk of death of the driver and passengers by 30-40%. The main task of the airbag is to minimize the possible damage to the human body in a collision with another moving vehicle or an immovable object.

The airbag is designed to deploy in the event of a severe impact. After a collision with another movable or immovable object, sensors located in the front of the car transmit a signal to the squib, which activates the airbag.

The order of deployment of the airbag is as follows:

The reaction of body sensors to a strong impact.

The shock sensor itself is a glass tube with a hole. Inside it is a small ball of mercury. When a car collides, the mercury ball moves and activates the sensor. He, in turn, sends an electrical impulse to the squib with gunpowder.

Igniter.

The explosion of the squib activates the seat belt tensioners. The belt tightly presses the human body to the car seat and securely fixes it for a few seconds.

The explosion of gunpowder in the squib activates the airbags. They fill up in a very short time with the gas formed by mixing sodium azide and potassium nitrate. The pressurization system is responsible for mixing them, which pumps the gas formed almost instantly into the airbags of the car.

Airbag.

Mixing the two chemicals results in the formation of nitrogen gas. As a result of the reaction, a mini-explosion occurs, almost instantly filling the pillows with gas. Very convenient and practically trouble-free system.

It is the deploying airbag that instantly fills the space between the driver and the instrument panel, thereby eliminating their contact, which often leads to serious injuries.

The main task of the airbag is to reduce the speed of the passenger or driver to zero. At the same time, all actions must take seconds to really provide a high level of protection for people.

Today, there are fewer and fewer cars on the roads of the country that are not equipped with airbags. It is impossible to see a new car that does not use this important element of active protection for the driver and passengers.

The device of a modern airbag

The airbag design of a modern car is simple and effective in use. It must be remembered that it can be used only once and then the system requires restoration and installation of new components. After the airbags are deployed, almost all the main elements require a complete replacement.

In total, 3 components of the airbag can be distinguished:

Bag.

Represented by a strong nylon fabric that can withstand very serious short-term loads. It is stored until triggered in a special tire closed with a plastic or cloth lining.

Impact sensor.

The main task of the impact sensor is to timely activate the airbag at the initial stage of the collision. Not every impact causes the airbags to deploy, and the sensor necessarily takes into account the force with which the collision occurs.

Additionally, accelerometers are installed with the sensors, which determine the position of the car in real time. The driver and passenger protection system is configured to deploy airbags in seconds. Human life largely depends on this.

Inflating system.

Serves for the rapid filling of airbags with gas in order to instantly increase its volume. Everything about everything takes a fraction of a second.

In principle, there were no cases when the system failed. A prerequisite for the deployment of airbags is the use of a seat belt. If the driver or passenger is not wearing seat belts, the airbags may not deploy.

Rules for the use of airbags

It is not enough to know the principle of operation of airbags, you also need to interact with them in the right way in order to avoid harm from their operation during an accident. The risk of injury when the airbag is activated is minimal, but it still exists. Often, individual drivers were seriously injured precisely because they did not know the rules for using airbags.

Baby car seat.

Many parents often incorrectly install a child car seat in the passenger seat next to the driver and thereby put their child in serious danger. They install the chair not back to front, but vice versa. The face of the child is right in front of the opening airbag. Doing this is strictly prohibited. A fired airbag can break the cervical vertebrae of a fragile young organism.

Stickers.

The use of stickers in places of deployment of airbags is unacceptable. Sealing the firing elements of the cabin can lead to a violation of the airbag deployment order. The effectiveness of protection in this case is significantly reduced.

Safety belt.

Ignoring the seat belt in the car often leads to the fact that the airbag does not work and does not fire. Thus, there is a serious risk of injury or even death.

Steering column adjustment.

If the steering column of the car has the ability to adjust, do not abuse it. Pushing the steering wheel up can cause the airbag to not deploy properly and fire at an angle. This very often leads to serious injury to the driver.

Conclusion

Every driver and passenger of the car must remember that the use of seat belts is the key to deploying airbags. Life and health are priceless and car protection systems should not be neglected.

For many years, a reliable seat belt remained the only means of passive safety for a motorist. There has been debate about their safety, especially for children, but over time, many countries have passed laws requiring seat belts. Statistics show that the use of seat belts has saved thousands of lives of people who could have died in a collision.

Like seat belts, the concept of an airbag - a soft cushion that deploys in a collision - has long been in the air. The first patent application for an inflatable device to protect passengers during a hard landing of aircraft was filed during World War II. In the 1980s, the first industrial airbags appeared in cars.

Beginning in 1998, all new vehicles sold in the United States were required to have airbags on both the driver's and passenger's side (the law extended to light trucks in 1999). To date, statistics show that airbags reduce the risk of death in the event of a direct frontal crash by about 30 percent. This was followed by airbags built into the seats and doors. Today, some cars have much more than two airbags - six or even eight airbags. Because of the same controversy that once occurred with the introduction of seat belts, airbags are the subject of significant government and industry research and testing.

In this article, you will learn what scientific achievements are behind airbags, how this device works, what are its problems and in what direction the technology is developing.

Laws of motion

Before considering the specifics, let's recall the basics of the laws of motion. First, we know that moving objects have momentum (the product of mass times the speed of the object). Except when an external force is acting on the object, the object will continue to move at the given speed in the given direction. A car is made up of several objects, including the vehicle itself, various objects inside the car, and of course the passengers. If these objects are not secured, they will continue to move at the same speed as the vehicle was traveling, even if the vehicle is stopped due to a collision.

To extinguish the momentum of an object, forces are required that act for a certain period of time. When a car has an accident, the force needed to stop an object is quite large because the momentum of the car changed instantly, unlike the passengers - it would take longer to do so. The purpose of any restraint system is to help stop the occupant with minimal harm to the health of the latter.

The airbag exists to reduce the passenger's speed to zero with little to no damage. At the same time, the limitations within which it must work are enormous. To accomplish its task, the pillow has a space between the passenger and the steering wheel or dashboard, and some fraction of a second. Even this tiny space and amount of time makes a huge difference, as the system must slow the passenger down evenly, rather than in a sudden burst. In the next section, we will take a closer look at the parts of the pillow and how they inflate.

Air bag inflation

The purpose of an airbag is to slow the forward movement of the passenger as evenly as possible in the fraction of a second it has. There are three parts of the airbag that will help achieve this result:

The cushion itself is made of thin nylon fabric and is tucked into the steering wheel or dashboard, or, as is often the case these days, the seat or door.
A device sensor that tells the airbag to inflate. Inflation occurs when the collision force is equal to a collision with a brick wall at a speed of 16 to 24 km/h. The mechanical switch is activated when there is a mass shift that has closed the electrical contact, which informs the sensors that an accident has occurred. The sensors receive information from the accelerometer built into the microprocessor.
The airbag inflation system mixes sodium azide (NaN 3) and potassium nitrate (KNO 3), resulting in the release of gas. Hot nitrogen gas explodes the airbags.

Early attempts to use airbags in automobiles stumbled upon the prohibitive cost and technical difficulties involved in storing and releasing pressurized gas.

The researchers were interested in:

Is there enough space in the car to fit a gas canister?
Will the gas remain stable under high pressure
How to quickly and reliably inflate an airbag under various operating temperatures and without a deafening sound

They needed a way to start a chemical reaction that would produce nitrogen, which would inflate the pillow. Small solid fuel blowers came to the rescue in the 1970s.

The inflation system is somewhat similar to a rocket booster. The airbag system ignites solid fuel, which burns very quickly, creating large volumes of gas that inflate the airbag. The pillow then literally bursts out of its place at speeds of up to 322 km/h - faster than in the blink of an eye! In the next second, the gas quickly dissipates through tiny holes in the chamber, thereby deflating the cushion so you can move.

Even though the entire process takes one twenty-fifth of a second, the extra time is needed to help prevent serious injury. Incidentally, the powdery substance released from the airbag is plain corn starch or talc, which is used by the manufacturer to keep the airbag flexible and act as a lubricant while the airbag is in its storage.

Airbag Precautions

From the early days of airbags, experts have warned that airbags should be used in conjunction with seatbelts. Seat belts were still absolutely necessary, since the airbags only worked in the event of a frontal collision occurring at speeds of more than 6 km/h. Seat belts alone can help with a skid or side crash (although side airbags are becoming more common nowadays), rear collisions and secondary impacts. Even with modern advances in technology, airbags are still only effective when knee or shoulder belts are used at the same time. security.

It didn't take long to realize that the force of the pillow could hurt those who got too close. The researchers found that the risk zone for the driver is the first 5-8 cm of airbag inflation. So, being located 25 cm from the airbag, you will get a reliable margin of safety. This distance is measured from the center of the handlebar to your sternum. If the current distance is less than 25 centimeters, you can adjust the driving position in one of the following ways:

Move the driver's seat as far back as possible to make it easy to reach the pedals.
Lower the seatback slightly. Although vehicle designs vary, most drivers can achieve a distance of 25cm even with the driver's seat pushed forward by tilting the seatback slightly. If the tilt of the seat does not allow you to have a good view of the road, you can raise the seat using the lift system (not all machines are equipped with this system) or by using a hard, non-slip cushion to achieve the same effect.
Make sure the airbag is "targeted" at the center of the chest and not at the head and neck by tilting the steering wheel down (this only works if your steering wheel is adjustable).

These rules are different for children. The airbag can seriously injure or even kill an unrestrained child who sits too close to it or is thrown forward by the force of emergency braking. Experts agree that for child safety the following conditions are required:

Children under 12 must ride securely in a properly installed, age-appropriate car seat in the rear seat.
Infants in a rearward-facing seat (under the age of one year and weighing less than 10 kg) should not ride in the front seat of a passenger car with airbags on the passenger side.
If a child older than one year is forced to ride in a front seat equipped with a passenger-side airbag, he or she must sit in a forward-facing child seat or booster cushion, or using a properly secured knee or shoulder belt. and the seat should be reclined or pushed back as far as possible.

In some cases, car owners may want to be able to disable airbags. In the next section, we will discuss the steps to take if you want your airbags to be disabled.

Air bag deactivation

In response to concerns raised about children and some other categories, especially small people, who were killed or seriously injured as a result of malfunctioning or overly powerful airbags, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1997 published the final rules allowing automakers to use less powerful airbags. This rule allows you to reduce the power of airbags by 20 to 35 percent. In addition, since 1998, repair shops and dealers have been allowed to install switches that allow the airbags to be deactivated if necessary. Motor vehicle owners can currently obtain approval to install a switch on one or both airbags in a vehicle if they (or others using the vehicle) fall into one or more of these risk groups:

Eligible to deactivate airbags on both the driver's and passenger's side - persons with medical conditions for whom the risk of airbag deployment exceeds the risk of no airbag
On the driver's side (in addition to medical reasons) - people who cannot position themselves so that when operating the car, there is at least 25.4 cm from the body to the center of the airbag
On the passenger side (in addition to medical reasons) - persons who carry a child in the front seat of a car in a rear-facing seat because they do not have rear seats, the rear seats are too small to accommodate a child car seat, or because You must constantly monitor the child for medical reasons.
On the passenger side (in addition to medical reasons) - persons who carry children between the ages of one and 12 in the front seat, because (a) the car does not have a rear seat, (b) the owner of the vehicle has more children than he can fit in the back seat or (in), as it is necessary to constantly monitor the health of the child.

If you would like to install a derailleur in your car, you will need to read the pros and cons before going to the workshop, as well as information from the manufacturer about whether this option can be installed on your car.

Obviously, even if you have the ability to set the switch, the airbags should be left to drivers whose build leaves the required distance to the airbag. For those who cannot follow this condition (even with the suggestions listed above), the pillow can be disabled. A panel of physicians at the National Conference on Medical Indications for Airbag Deactivation considered a number of health grounds that serve as possible grounds for airbag deactivation. In their opinion, medical indications are not:

pacemakers
angina
emphysema
asthma
mastectomy
previous surgical interventions in the back and neck area
old age
osteoporosis
arthritis
pregnancy

Recall that in the US you can't disable the airbag at all without setting the switch. However, if the vehicle manufacturer does not provide such a feature, NHTSA will allow airbag deactivation on a case-by-case basis, subject to appropriate conditions. Never try to disable the airbag yourself - remember, this is not a soft airbag! It can hurt you if you don't know what you're doing - it's best to contact a service center.

In some cars, automakers install the airbag switch themselves if the vehicle does not have a rear seat or if the rear seats are too small to accommodate a child seat. In the US, manufacturers are currently not allowed to install switches for the driver. Why these rules? The US NHTSA has decided to ban factory-installed switches for fear that they will become standard equipment on all new vehicles - even those purchased by non-at-risk people. the decision was also made to ensure manufacturers would work on developing safer, more advanced airbag systems rather than deactivating existing ones.

The future of airbags

Activities aimed at maintaining and improving the life-saving benefits of airbags are in full bloom. New NHTSA-sponsored dummy tests have improved airbag requirements based on new knowledge and scientific research.

Until recently, most of the advances in auto safety have been made in the area of front and rear collisions, although 40 percent of all serious crash injuries are the result of lateral impacts and 30 percent of all accidents are the result of side effects of collisions. Many automakers have responded to these statistics (and the associated new standards) by reinforcing doors, door frames, and floors and roofs. But cars that currently offer side airbags represent a new frontier in occupant safety.

Engineers say designing effective side airbags is much more difficult than designing front airbags. This is because most of the energy from a front impact is absorbed by the bumper, hood and engine, and it takes 30 to 40 milliseconds before the impact reaches the driver or passenger. In a side impact, the vehicle occupant is separated from another vehicle by only a relatively thin door and literally a few inches. This means that door-mounted side airbags must deploy in five or six milliseconds!

Volvo engineers have experimented with different ways to mount the side airbags, and chose the rear seats as the mounting location because they protect passengers of all sizes no matter how the seat is positioned. This mechanism allows them to place a mechanical sensor on the sides of the driver's and front passenger's seat cushions. This prevents the air bags of the undamaged part of the vehicle from inflating. Installing the entire package of airbags in the seatbacks also has the advantage of preventing unnecessary deployment that could be caused by collisions with pedestrians or bicycles. For the side airbags to deploy, the collision must occur at a speed of about 19 km/h.

BMW engineers solved the problem by installing airbags mounted in the door. The door has more space, which means a larger airbag.

The head airbag or Inflatable Tubular Structure (ITS) is a bit like a big sausage and, unlike other airbags, is designed to stay inflated for five seconds to provide protection against a second or third impact. impact. Combined with the side airbag, the ITS offers more effective side impact protection. Another option for head protection in side collisions is a "curtain" airbag.

From all of this, it is clear that the scientific research behind airbags is still new, but rapidly evolving. Many advances can be expected in this area as designers have new ideas that they get from the footage of real car accidents.

Officially, the history of the airbag dates back to the middle of the last century. For me, it began in the winter of the year 2000, when during a Volvo test drive on the way from Moscow to St. Petersburg near Novgorod, a “nine” crashed into one of our cars, flying into the oncoming lane. The driver of the "nine" was killed, and the driver of the Volvo escaped with only a fright. True, in the evening he complained that his cheeks were burning from a meeting with a pillow. He was behind the wheel of one of the first Volvo S80, which in real life confirmed the brand's reputation as one of the safest in the world.

Frankly, before that incident, I did not pay much attention to the means of passive safety. But after all my car purchases began with the question of the presence of airbags.

Airy but no air

Who was the creator of the air defense system? Patents for the first automobile airbags were simultaneously filed in 1951 by John W. Hetrick in the United States of America and engineer Walter Linderer in Germany. Both inventions were based on the use of compressed air in pillows. Upon further research, however, it turned out that the devices do not differ in speed and do not provide maximum security. Their use was deemed inappropriate.

The optimal solution turned out to be the use of a squib, which emits a powerful gas flow when triggered, sufficient for almost instantaneous inflation of the air bag. And such a pillow, which is used everywhere today by all automakers, was patented in 1963 by the Japanese inventor Yasuzoburo Kobori.

It is noteworthy that there was no air in this pillow - only combustion products, and not just toxic, but also hazardous to health, although the name “air bag” has taken root everywhere - this is how Airbag is translated from English. Whereas the term cushion - a pillow, introduced by John Hetrick, for some reason did not become widespread in English-speaking countries.

The first cars with pillows

Before the pillow got to the car, almost ten years passed. On an experimental basis, Ford installed airbags on the Ford Taunus 20M P7b, but the first production car with such a device on board was the 1973 Oldsmobile Toronado.

It must be said that customers met the innovation in different ways. Someone considered it useless and even dangerous. Moreover, GM statistics recorded a case of heart rupture from a sudden operation of the device. Someone, on the contrary, was encouraged by the idea that the airbag could replace seat belts, which Americans have long neglected.

The first airbags in Europe were introduced in 1980 by Mercedes-Benz on the flagship S-class model in the back of the W126. Front airbags protected the driver and front passenger. In the mid-nineties, Volvo offered side airbags as an option on its cars, which were located in the sidewalls of the front seats. In 1998, Toyota began installing air curtains to protect the head and upper body. Around the same time, the Korean Kia put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bprotecting the driver's knees with a pillow, which, upon impact, could slide under the steering wheel. Toyota developed a central airbag that pops up from the armrest to prevent injuries that passengers themselves can cause to each other in a side impact.

Ford came to the conclusion that it would significantly protect the rear passengers if they provided inflatable devices for seat belts. In 2011, inflatable belts appeared on the Explorer model, and three years later, they began to optionally put them on the Ford Fusion. TRW introduced the overhead airbag in the same 2011, but the invention has not yet been widely used.

Airbags go outside

Gradually, protective inflatable devices filled the entire interior of the car and are now asking to go outside. The first external pillow - for the protection of a pedestrian - was offered by Volvo on the V40 model in 2012. Today, ZF TRW (as the combined company is named after German transmission manufacturer ZF bought American airbag maker TRW) is working on an external side airbag that covers the entire sidewall of a vehicle. In fact, this is an air mattress that is hidden in the threshold of the car and should not work after a collision, but in front of it. Proactive work requires a serious program study of the issue.

An external pillow under the windshield to protect the head of a pedestrian appeared in 2012 on the Volvo V40. It provides full pedestrian protection at speeds of 20-50 km/h.

The ability to soften the impact of an airbag attracted the attention of the creators of other vehicles to it. Honda was the first to offer an airbag for its two-wheeled flagship, the Gold Wing.

But not all motorcycles are suitable for installation of stationary pillows. For an airbag to be useful, there must be space between the rider and the motorcycle. Sports bikes, on which the pilot literally lies on the gas tank, do not allow the use of an airbag. Thus was born the idea of using inflatable vests and helmets.

Dangerous Defense

Designed to protect, a pillow with a squib is fraught with considerable danger. Firstly, it takes off at a speed of 200 to 300 km / h (depending on the design) and can injure a person, especially if he is not wearing a seat belt. Secondly, the opening takes place in the closed space of the cabin, and in order to avoid barotrauma, you must simultaneously take care of opening the windows or another way to depressurize the cabin. Volvo offered to simply break the windows - in this case, the probability of jamming the lowering mechanism is zero. Thirdly, sodium azide (NaN 3) - the main gas-forming component of many airbags - is a very toxic substance, dangerous to human health in large doses. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly ventilate the cabin immediately after the airbag has been deployed. Small volume protective systems, such as motorcycle jackets, helmets, use compressed air. An inflatable safety vest can be a lifesaver for any two-wheeler.

An inflatable safety vest can be a lifesaver for any two-wheeler.

To reduce the risk of involuntary deployment of airbags, a number of companies use pressure sensors in the seats: passenger in place - squib at the ready. Airbags are disabled in the same way when installing child seats, but in some cases they will have to be deactivated manually.

Finally, the airbag that did not open during the accident is as insidious as an unexploded mine. She threatens the rescuers when they cut the body with special scissors to extract the victims. Sudden operation can lead to tragedy.

From all this it follows that the safest thing to do is not to force the airbag to work.

An airbag is a passive safety system (Supplementary Restraint System, or SRS) in a car. Designed to reduce the speed of a passenger inside the car (and, as a result, reduce the impact) in a collision. In English texts it is denoted as air bag or SRS.
The airbag is an elastic shell that is filled with a mixture of gases. It takes no more than 20 milliseconds to open. The airbag maintains pressure for up to 10 seconds, which can protect people in multiple collisions or when a car rolls over. adaptive cushion changes the pressure and degree of opening depending on the strength of the impact, and may also not open if there is no passenger on the seat or if he is not wearing a seat belt.
The driver's pillow is installed, as a rule, usually on the steering wheel hub, the passenger's pillow - on the dashboard, usually above the glove box.
In addition to front airbags, cars are often equipped with side airbags, they are designed to reduce the severity of injuries in the event of a side impact of a car. Such pillows are usually installed in the doors, seat backs. Inflatable curtains, which are usually placed in the door pillars or above the doors, protect the heads of passengers in the event of side impacts or vehicle rollovers.
Optionally, you can also equip the car with airbags to protect your knees, feet, and also to prevent diving under the seat belts in an accident.
If the airbags have deployed, or if they have failed, they must be replaced with new ones, Pillows cannot be repaired.

Airbag operation algorithm

(in parentheses is the time since the impact)

Determining the nature of the impact, making a decision by the system - passing the command to open the airbag, or refusing to initiate the command. (3 milliseconds)
Igniter activation
Formation of nitrogen to fill the pillow
Pillow inflation start (20 milliseconds)
Full pillow inflation (40 milliseconds)
In the interval of 40-90 milliseconds, the passenger hits the surface of the pillow
Airbag start to deflate (105 milliseconds)

Scheme of the airbag

The cartridge is very compact, and the combustion products are harmless. Today, dry fuel is used - sodium azide (NaN3). Special filters allow only nitrogen to pass into the pillow, retaining the gas that is hazardous to health.

According to statistics, about 50 percent of all car accidents fall on a frontal collision. This indicates that the topic of airbags is extremely important. That is why today we will talk about this effective means of protecting the driver from injury.

Airbags are just one of the means to save life and health

How important are airbags?

For a long time, seat belts were the only form of protection. There was a lot of controversy around this, however, in the end, driving on the road with fastened seat belts became a mandatory condition in all countries. As practice has shown, this measure has saved the lives of thousands of unlucky drivers who could easily die in collisions.

As for airbags, they appeared relatively recently (at least in the form we are used to) and are soft supports that alleviate the consequences of an accident. For the first time, an inflatable pillow for aircraft was patented - it could be purchased back in the days of World War II. And in the eightieth year, the first pillow for cars was released.

Note! According to research, modern airbags reduce the risk of death in a frontal collision by about 30 percent.

As a rule, they are installed in the driver's seat and in the front passenger seat, but in recent years, car models equipped with six or even eight pillows that protect all passengers in the passenger compartment (products are additionally installed in the seats and side doors) have become increasingly common.

Airbags - how do they work?

So, the main function of these protective equipment is to prevent direct contact of the driver and passengers with the dashboard, steering wheel, windshield, etc. For maximum safety, the airbags inflate exactly at the moment when a collision has already occurred, but before the person touches the steering wheel. As a rule, this period of time ranges from 15-30 milliseconds. Yes, they didn’t forget about the seat belt - it also helps to minimize the consequences of an accident, but in combination with airbags it helps to avoid injuries altogether.

Note! Often the pillow is hidden in a large steering hub. In addition, a car equipped with the described protective equipment differs from a car without them in that the steering wheel shaft in it is longer, and the shape of the steering casing is somewhat modified.

From a structural point of view, the airbag consists of the following main elements:

inflatable bag (a peculiar name for a gas generator);
control lamp;
an electrical sensor that is triggered in the event of an impact.

When the ignition is switched on, the warning lamp comes on after about three to four seconds. And if it goes out, it means that everything is in order with the security system and it is completely ready for operation. But if the indicator lights up red, then there is a problem in the system and you should immediately contact a car service for professional help.

How the airbag works

The procedure for deploying the airbag itself is nothing complicated. In dynamics, it should look something like this.

Stage one . The vehicle collides with an obstacle.

Stage two . As a result, an electronic sensor is activated. The system is notified of the failure and takes action.

Stage three . The signal from the system reaches the detonator. It explodes, which provokes the destruction of the iron shell of the cylinder, which is filled with gas. At the same time, the gas itself, by the way, is under pressure there, reaching 250 MPa. As a rule, it is either ozone or argon.

Stage four . The pillow (and it is multi-layered and consists of nylon fabric) is filled with gas. Its thickness is usually 0.4 mm.

Stage five . Then the pillow increases and through special slots in the cover of the module breaks out.

Stage six . She opens up. Often this takes no more than 30 milliseconds after the sensor is activated.

Stage seven . The driver hits his head on the pillow and it absorbs the impact energy, after which, releasing the contents, it begins to fall off.

Note! All this happens extremely quickly. The airbag is capable of dissipating about 90 percent of all interaction energy, although the rest - that is, 10 percent - still falls on the driver.

Note also that each car model has its own settings for this protection tool.

Watch how the airbag works (video):

The main advantages of airbags

This is an effective means of protecting the head and chest of a person from serious injuries.
The pillow is more comfortable than the seat belt because it does not need to be fastened/unfastened periodically. Moreover, the pillow is also invisible to others.
Finally, all pillows do not need any special additional conditions at all.

Fly in the ointment: about the disadvantages of pillows

Possible false positive.
When the pillow is filled with gas, it makes a lot of noise.
The performance capability of a product used for a long time is poorly understood.
Finally, airbags are ineffective in a side impact or vehicle rollover.

However, it is worth adding that some shortcomings are absent in more modern car models.

What are airbags?

Immediately make a reservation that there are quite a lot of them, so we will get acquainted only with the most popular varieties.

Front cushions are the most common, and they are installed for both the driver and the front passenger.
Also have side airbags - so to speak, the next stage in the development of the system. They are designed to protect the pelvic region and chest during a side impact.
head pillows (they are also called "curtains") are required to protect the head from hitting solid elements in a side collision.
knee pads reduce the likelihood of knee injuries (and this is not uncommon with a frontal impact).
Airbag equipped seat belt. Protects the chest from injury.
Central cushions created relatively recently and designed to prevent a collision of two people sitting side by side in the event of a coup or side impact. Moreover, these products protect the neck from injury.

What to look out for: safety precautions

As you know, sometimes airbags not only benefit, but also harm. However, the latter is possible only with improper operation. What could this mean?

The distance between the passenger and the pillow must be at least 25 centimeters, otherwise, upon impact, the protective equipment itself may injure him.
If the child is transported in front in a special chair, then he should “look” in the direction of movement, and the chair itself should be pushed back as far as possible.
All passengers must be fastened. A fastened belt will slow down the speed of the body, as well as direct it to the right place - right on the pillow.
The pillow will not protect the child as much as an adult, so it should be transported from behind, and only in a specially equipped seat (it must be appropriate for the age of the baby).
Reversing a child seat in the front seat is not acceptable if the front airbags are active.

Outcome

When used correctly, airbags greatly increase the chances of occupants surviving and suffering less injury. Every year, thanks to this invention, the lives and health of thousands of people are saved, so try to monitor the health and stability of the entire security system of your car.

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