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Air Bag Invention

An air bag is an inflatable safety device used to protect a driver or passenger in a head-on collision. This air bag was introduced in Fords and GM’s in the early 1970’s, even though it was originally proposed in the 1960’s. Back then, it was intended to be used for a one hundred seventy pound, five foot nine inch tall man, who didn’t wear a seatbelt. When it was finally introduced, it dramatically reduced the number of fatal crashes because of the way it worked. Now, airbags are in practically every type of car, so it’s important to know how one works. First, the crash triggers the crash sensors, which turn on a switch. This switch then energizes a wire, which sends electricity to a filament. The filament then ignites a capsule, setting fire to pellets. A chemical reaction occurs, causing the pellets to become nitrogen gas, which then inflates the air bag. Soon after the bag inflates, it starts to deflate, so that the driver may escape or at least not be smothered by the bag. This entire process takes about .1 seconds, with about .05 seconds to inflate the air bag. The air bags are also covered with a white powder, which is really ground up chalk. This ground up chalk lubricates the air bag, allowing it to expand faster and smoother, thus reducing injury. However, to such an invention as an air bag, there are some negative sides to it. Almost 100 people were killed by airbags in the 1990's, most of which were children. Part of this reason was because the hot 150 mph balloon can cause serious backlash, causing head and neck injury. This risk of death is greater if the driver isn’t wearing a seatbelt, for the stop shoves them forwards into the bag. Many people think an air bag is actually scarier than flying through the windshield, simply because of these deaths. A survey in 1997 showed that only 57% of people considered air bags to be important compared to 82% of people the previous year. Also, the percentage of people who considered air bags to be unimportant completely rose from 6% previously to 24%. Fortunately, with every problem, there are always some solutions. For those people who allow their kids to sit up front, they could shut off the air bag first, so that it wouldn’t be able to cause the harm it would if it was on. Another solution would be to let some of the steam out of the bag, so that it wouldn’t be as powerful if an accident occurs. Yet another solution would be to move the seat back as far as possible, as so to reduce force of the impact. But the most simple solutions would have to be to add warning labels to the front, or even just have the kids sit in the back. Even though there are all these negative sides to an air bag, there are many positive sides as well. By November 1996, over 1,481 drivers and 133 passengers were saved. Compared to the 18 people that died by that time, the number of people saved was about 99% higher than the number of deaths. Fatal injuries from crashes were reduced by 11% for drivers and 13% for passengers, allowing safer vehicles. One is also 50% less likely to get injured in a car crash if they have both an air bag and a seat belt. Even so, only around 70% of people even use their seat belts. Air bags and seat belts, unlike how originally proposed in the 1960’s, now are supposed to work together to prevent an injury. Before going into that, Newton’s laws of motion must be known to understand how this works. In Newton’s laws of motion, an object will remain in motion unless acted on by a force. When a car moves, the seat shoves those on the inside, increasing their momentum. When that same vehicle stops instantly, those on the inside still have the same momentum, until another object, whether it’s a seat belt, and air bag, or even just the steering wheel, reduces their momentum. Depending on how great the injury depends on how great the change in momentum. Also, the softer the object changing the momentum, the lesser the injury someone gets. Back to the air bags and seat belts and how they work together, they both reduce the momentum and injury. So, when they are together, they reduce the momentum and injury further, thus protecting the driver without any major injuries. When working together, the seat belt keeps the driver in place, decreasing their momentum, while the air bag provides cushion from the momentum change. Plus, it’s still good to wear a seat belt, for there are rollovers, in which airbags don’t inflate, as well as side collision. Finally, air bags have been used for space missions and those sorts of things. In late 1996, NASA launched the Pathfinder, which would land on Mars the following year. What made this craft unique from the other crafts at that time was that NASA had installed a $5,000,000 air bag, which would be used in the landing. In early 1997, the Pathfinder became the first spacecraft since the 1970’s to land on Mars. The parachute and 3 motors froze the craft in midair, while the 17-foot diameter air bags inflated, which cushioned the craft on impact. The craft then deployed some machines that searched the surface and found many samples. The mission was a success, thanks to the air bag technology. Because of all of these reasons, the air bag is one of the most useful of the safety devices for vehicles today. Even though there are those negative sides to the air bag, there’s plenty more positive sides that more than make up for it. And so, that concludes this report on air bags.

Works Cited:

CQ Press "Auto Safety." CQ Researcher 26 Oct. 2001: 874-895. Invention: Airbags. 23 Jan. 1997. The Why Files. 23 Jan. 1997 <http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=inventors&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwhyfiles.org%2F032air_bag%2Findex.html>