Having had the airbags save my life, I definitely do agree that though saving your life, they beat the cr*p out of you. *Which kind of makes sense since they inflate by an explosion of NaN₃.
When I slammed my head into mine, it was like receiving a huge punch to the nose, leaving it blue and hurting for at least a solid week.
And the white smoke/debris you've mentioned... Yep, it fills the cabin as if you'd turn on the smoke machine inside.

Glad you two didn't get majorly hurt.

Hopefully you never experience the airbag deploying ever again!