Every driver knows that the car is a real tool of increased danger and this danger, without exaggeration, threatens every moment from the moment of the beginning of the movement. As for safety, there will not be much extra protection, so that from the moment a person realizes the danger posed by a self-indulgent crew, inventors and engineers do not stop working on the safety of the passengers of the vehicle and others. Last time I talked about seat belts, and this time it's about the AirBag
With a difference of only 3 months in 1953, a patent for airbags was obtained in Germany, by inventor Walter Linderer, and in the USA by John Hetrick. An American served during the Second World War in the Navy and in 1944, to create Airbag, he was pushed by the case of a torpedo. Being in it under high pressure the air suddenly burst out and in an instant puffed and threw away its canvas cover. Both German and American variants assumed the filling of the cushion with compressed air, which occurs when the front bumper collides with an obstacle. The German variant also suggested triggering by means of the "inclusion" by the driver. Later, filling pillows from a container with air under pressure showed itself to be nonviable, since the pillow did not fill up fast enough and would not help with an accident.
Allen Breed
A real breakthrough happened in the late 60's. Allen Breed, a former engineer of the company that worked on military orders, in 1962, opened his own company, specializing in automotive security technologies. In 1968, he patented a genius in its simplicity, a collision sensor. In a steel tube, one end of which was closed by a magnet, there was a ball, at the moment of a strong impact, the ball broke off from the magnet and beat against the opposite end of the tube, which closed the circuit. The cost of such a sensor was only $ 5. Closing the chain led to the ignition of sodium azide, resulting in the release of a large amount of gaseous nitrogen, which filled the airbag in less than 30 milliseconds. The first customer of Allen Breed was the corporation Chrysler. In the same year, Eaton, Yale & Towne, offered a similar solution to Ford, but not only a driver's, but also a passenger airbag.
The tests of 1969 by Chrysler
The introduction of airbags did not happen without cloud - after the unsuccessful demonstration of the innovation of Henry Ford II (the pillow simply did not open), the program was completely curtailed. However, then legislatively, the automakers were obliged to introduce, before 1974, on all their cars or an automatic safety belt, or Airbag. "Two" and Lee Iacocca went to an audience with Nixon and convinced that such pressure on automakers would literally open the doors to the Japanese car industry and deal a huge blow to the economy. For all American automakers, it was possible to negotiate a deferral until 1976. Nevertheless, the introduction of airbags began immediately - first on premium brands of automakers. And with great enthusiasm. Already in 1974, the inflation rate of the cushion depended on the impact force, as were multi-sectional cushions that protected not only the head, but also the trunk with knees. True option, for those times, was quite expensive - about $ 200.
Oldsmobile Toronado. One of the first cars with airbag
Of course, the benefits of pillows were obvious, but automakers scrupulously collected all the information on the incidents. Seven people were killed in an accident in cars with cushions and another unbuttoned child, whose cause of death was called the pillow. After this road accident, tests were carried out with live piglets, according to which the majority of the experimental subjects received serious injuries from airbag. With the onset of the fuel crisis, selling cars with airbags has become even more difficult. Ford Corporation was completely focused on the module, which does not allow the engine to start before it buckled up, and it seems that the authorities were already ready to give in, but Nixon left the White House ahead of schedule, and the new administration was adamant. According to statistics, airbags saved more than 12,000 lives per year and automakers were ordered to install them in all cars by 1985.
There was no way back. In 1986, Ford introduced the Mercury Topaz with side airbags. Since 1988 on many models of corporation Chrysler pillows have entered into a base complete set. Since 1994, the driver's airbag has become a mandatory requirement for any new car in the US, since 1997 - a pillow for the passenger has become mandatory.
Mercedes-Benz S-class W126
Work on the airbags was also carried out in Europe - the initiator was Mercedes-Benz, although the authorities did not pay any attention to this issue, and the drivers did not resist at all, because they were offered to put a package with explosives in their face. The first airbag was optionally offered since 1981 in the S-class W126 - the same where the belts with pretensioners first appeared. Since 1985, for individual Mercedes-Benz complete sets, the airbags went in basic equipment. Since 1986, the Porsche 944 Turbo has become the first car with cushions for the driver and passenger.
Over the years, various airbags became more and more, technologies were improved, new sensors appeared, numerous crash tests were conducted and real accidents were studied. Since then, this system has saved hundreds of thousands of lives around the world and today no one comes to mind fighting it.
