One of the most recognizable developments in vehicle safety, since the first gas-powered carriages wobbled down dirt roads in the late 19th century, is the airbag. Since they were patented in 1951, airbags have gone into almost every vehicle that can carry one.
Everyone's aware of them, but I believe many people take their effectiveness for granted. We trust they'll keep us safe without thinking too hard about what they really do or how complicated they really are. Let's talk about some common misunderstandings, and why it's important not to assume an airbag deployment is some kind of "get out of accident free" card.
Hitting An Airbag Doesn't Feel Like a Pillow Fight
One misconception among drivers is that an airbag, functionally a cushion, must feel like one during a collision. That idea is understandable, but it's also not true. Impact with the bag is surely preferable to hitting a dashboard or steering wheel, but its explosive inflation feels less like a pillow and more like a punch.
We've touched on this elsewhere, but to quickly recap: In a frontal collision the car stops moving but its occupants continue forward. If nothing gets in their way, people in the front seats may strike the car's dashboard or steering wheel, which are not forgiving surfaces to hit at high speeds. In the worst cases, some may even eject through the car's windshield. To counteract this, airbags have to inflate using explosive force to create a large pliant surface area that catches the driver. They have just a few hundredths of a second to achieve that.
Anything moving fast enough when it collides with a human body—a bullet, a baseball, even a playing card—can hurt it. An airbag deployment is no different: Flying bodily into a balloon that forcefully explodes outward at you feels a bit like getting shot by a throw pillow fired from a bazooka. Broken noses, fractured ribs, and bruises galore are common in crashes where airbags serve their purpose. Grim though that sounds, I think it's safe to say that anyone injured in this manner still prefers it over the alternatives.
Modern airbag systems carry less risk of deployment-related injury than they used to. However, they're still more complex than they may seem. If anything goes just a little wrong during their deployment, they may be rendered useless—or even present serious dangers of their own.
Airbags Aren't Failure-Proof
Some may believe that airbags are simple; after all, how complicated can a balloon be? The answer is probably "not very" for, say, party clowns, but airbags require more than twisting them into a giraffe.
Several things must happen with exact precision during the 30-40 milliseconds of a typical airbag deployment. Sensors must communicate the data of the collision (speed, direction, impact position) to one another. The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) must then trigger the bag inflator's detonation, after which the bag itself has to fully inflate within a heartbeat's time. The process involves split-second interaction between electronics, electrical elements, and even explosive materials. Unfortunately errors still occur, and bad things inevitably follow. If an airbag sensor isn't calibrated correctly, triggers late, or is slow to relay a crucial signal, that blink of an eye may be enough to claim someone's life.
It's rare but possible for software bugs or shorts in the electrical relays to cause such issues. While electrical system damage can sometimes happen from standard wear and tear, faulty electronics are often a sign of manufacturer negligence. Going over a few bumps can't account for the vehicular equivalent of brain damage.
It's not just the electronic components either. Anyone who pays attention to the news will have seen dozens of headlines about Takata-brand airbags. Found in vehicles from several major manufacturers, these airbags are infamous for their dangerously-explosive propellant canisters. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has gotten dozens of reports where the canisters, filled with ammonium nitrate (an unstable explosive found in some bombs), acted something like grenades when triggered during a crash. Metal shards flew at the faces and torsos of unprepared drivers, causing serious or even fatal lacerations.
Don't Take Airbags for Granted
Maybe it seems like I'm saying airbags do more harm than good. I certainly don't mean to convey that impression; in the overwhelming majority of cases airbags deploy properly and save lives that otherwise might have been cut short. I'm only pointing out that their composition and design aren't flawless and shouldn't be treated like they're perfect.
If the Takata airbag recall campaign teaches us anything, it's that we have to be responsible for our own safety instead of simply trusting that safety measures will rescue us from our mistakes. Wear a seat belt, obey speed limits and traffic signs, keep your eyes on the road, and don't drive drunk. Those are the basic rules we've known since Driver's Ed, but on average the U.S. sees about 16,000 crashes a day, suggesting that for many those lessons didn't really sink in. Anyone interested in surviving their road trip might want to remember that a car's safety devices don't always work as intended, so the best thing any of us can do is avoid needing them in the first place.