INTRODUCTION
The air bag traces its origin to (1/10) of a second and is nearly
air-filled bladders outlined as early as
1941. Early air bag systems were
large and bulky, primarily using tanks
of compressed or heated air,
compressed nitrogen gas (N2), freon,
or carbon dioxide (CO2). Some of the
early systems created hazardous
byproducts. One particular system
used gunpowder to heat up freon gas,
producing phosgene gas (COCl2)—an
extremely poisonous gas. An air bag
is an inflatable cushion designed to
protect automobile occupants from
serious injury in the case of a collision.
The air bag is part of an inflatable
restraint system, also known as an air
cushion restraint system (ACRS) or an
air bag supplemental restraint system
(SRS), because the air bag is
designed to supplement the protection
offered by seat belts. Seat belts are
still needed to hold the occupant
securely in place, especially in side
impacts, rear impacts, and rollovers.
Upon detecting a collision, air bags
inflate instantly to cushion the
exposed occupant with a big gas-filled
pillow.
A typical air bag system
consists of an air bag module
(containing an inflator or gas
generator and an air bag), crash
sensors, a diagnostic monitoring unit,
a steering wheel connecting coil, and
an indicator lamp. These components
are all interconnected by a wiring
harness and powered by the vehicle's
battery.
Air bags are designed for
frontal impact crashes. In a frontal
collision equivalent to hitting a solid
barrier at nine miles per hour (14.48
kilometers per hour), the crash
sensors located in the front of the car
detect the sudden deceleration and
send an electrical signal to start a
chemical reaction that inflates the air
bag with harmless nitrogen gas. The
bag is fully inflated for only one-tenth
deflated by three-tenths (3/10) of a
second after impact. Talcum powder
or cornstarch is used to line the inside
of the air bag and is released from the
air bag as it is opened.
Raw Materials
An air bag system consists of
an air bag module, crash sensors, a
diagnostic monitoring unit, a steering
wheel connecting coil, and an
indicator lamp. An air bag module has
three main parts: the air bag, the
inflator, and the propellant. The air
bag is sewn from a woven nylon fabric
and can come in different shapes and
sizes depending on specific vehicle
requirements. The driver's-side air bag
material is manufactured with a heat
shield coating to protect the fabric
from scorching, especially near the
inflator assembly, during deployment.
Talcum powder or cornstarch is also
used to coat the air bag, either
substance prevents the fabric from
sticking together and makes it easier
to assemble. Newer silicone and
urethane coated air bag materials
require little or no heat shield coating,
although talcum powder or corn starch
will probably still be used as a
processing aid.
The inflator canister or body is
made from either stamped stainless
steel or cast aluminum. Inside the
inflator canister is a filter assembly
consisting of a stainless steel wire
mesh with ceramic material
sandwiched in between. When the
inflator is assembled, the filter
assembly is surrounded by metal foil
to maintain a seal that prevents
propellant contamination.
The propellant, in the form of
black pellets, is primarily sodium azide
combined with an oxidizer and is
typically located inside the inflator
canister between the filter assembly
and the initiator.
The Manufacturing Process
Air bag production involves
three different separate assemblies
that combine to form the finished end
product, the air bag module. The
propellant must be manufactured, the
inflator components must be
assembled, and the air bag must be
cut and sewn. Some manufacturers
buy already-made components, such
as air bags or initiators, and then just
assemble the complete air bag
module. The following description of
the manufacturing process is for
driver-side air bag module assembly.
Passenger-side air bag module
assemblies are produced slightly
differently.
 Propellant
• The propellant consists of
sodium azide mixed together
with an oxidizer, a substance
that helps the sodium azide to
burn when ignited. After
inspection it is placed in a safe
storage place until needed.
• From storage, the sodium azide
and the oxidizer are then
carefully blended under
sophisticated
computerized process control.
• After blending, the propellant
mixture is sent to storage.
Presses are then used to
compress the propellant
mixture into disk or pellet form.
 Inflator assembly
• The inflator components, such
as the metal canister, the filter
assembly—stainless steel wire
mesh with ceramic material
inside—and initiator (or igniter)
are received from outside
vendors and inspected. The
components are then
assembled on a highly
automated production line.
• The inflator sub-assembly is
combined with the propellant
and an initiator to form the
inflator assembly. Laser
welding (using CO2 gas) is
used to join stainless steel
inflator sub-assemblies, while
friction inertial welding is used
to join aluminum inflator sub-
assemblies. Laser welding
entails using laser beams to
weld the assemblies together,
while friction inertial welding
involves rubbing two metals
together until the surfaces
become hot enough to join
together.
• The inflator assembly is then
tested and sent to storage until
needed.
Fig. 1 Inflator Assembly.
When the Control Module activates
the airbag assembly, an electric
current is sent to the detonator, which
ignites the sodium azide pellets. When
it burns, it releases nitrogen gas very
quickly and in large quantities. This is
what inflates the airbag.

 Air bag
• The woven nylon air bag fabric
is received from outside
vendors and inspected for any
material defects. The air bag
fabric is then die cut to the
proper shapes and sewn,
internally and externally, to
properly join the two sides.
After the air bag is sewn, it is
inflated and checked for any
seam imperfections.
DRIVER'S SIDE AIRBAG
CROSSECTION
 Final assembly of airbag
Module
• The air bag assembly is then
mounted to the tested inflator
assembly. Next, the air bag is
folded, and the breakaway
plastic horn pad cover is
installed. Finally, the completed
module assembly is inspected
and tested.
Airbag design
The air bag system consists of
three basic parts-an air bag module,
crash sensors and a diagnostic unit.
Some systems may also have an
on/off switch, which allows the air bag
to be deactivated.
The air bag module contains
both an inflator unit and the
lightweight fabric air bag. The driver
air bag module is located in the
steering wheel hub as shown in fig. 2,
and the passenger air bag module is
located in the instrument panel as
shown in fig. 3.
Fig. 2 Driver Side Airbag.
Fig. 3 Passenger Side Airbag.
When fully inflated, the driver
air bag is approximately the diameter
of a large beach ball. The passenger
air bag can be two to three times
larger since the distance between the
right-front passenger and the
instrument panel is much greater than
the distance between the driver and
the steering wheel.

 The Crash Sensors
The crash sensors are located
either in the front of the vehicle and/or
in the passenger compartment.
Vehicles can have one or more crash
sensors. The sensors are typically
activated by forces generated in
significant frontal or near-frontal
crashes.
Fig. 4 Crash Sensors
(a) Ball & Magnet, (b) Spring Band & Roller
Sensors measure deceleration,
which is the rate at which the vehicle
slows down. Because of this, the
vehicle speed at which the sensors
activate the air bag varies with the
nature of the crash.
Air bags are not designed to
activate during sudden braking or
while driving on rough or uneven
surfaces. In fact, the maximum
deceleration generated in the severest
braking is only a small fraction of that
necessary to activate the air bag
system.
The diagnostic unit monitors
the readiness of the air bag system.
The unit is activated when the
vehicle's ignition is turned on. If the
unit identifies a problem, a warning
light alerts the driver to take the
vehicle for examination of the air bag
system. Most diagnostic units contain
a device that stores enough electrical
energy to deploy the air bag if the
vehicle's battery is destroyed very
early in a crash sequence.
• Types of Sensors
By function, there are 2 types.
Impact sensors and Safing sensors.
The forward sensors are located in
various locations forward of the
passenger compartment. Some are
located inside the fenders, some are
on the cowl, some are attached to the
core support in front of the radiator.
Rear SENSORS are also known as
safing sensors as their function is to
determine that a crash has occurred.
Rear safing sensors are located in
various locations in the passenger
compartment. The rear safing sensor
must close before the forward sensors
to avoid airbag deployment in cases
where the impact is not severe
enough to cause deployment. When
the vehicle is parked with the ignition
off deployment is very unlikely
because there is no power to the
circuits for deployment.
Fig.5 Air bag design
Some vehicles without rear
seats, such as pick-up trucks and
convertibles, or with rear seats too
small to accommodate rear-facing across the full front of each vehicle at
child safety seats, have manual about 28 mph (45 km/h). This is
ON/OFF switches for the passenger because the parked car absorbs some
air bag installed at the factory. of the energy of the crash, and is
ON/OFF switches for driver or pushed by the striking vehicle.
passenger air bags may also be
installed by qualified service
personnel at the request of owners
who meet government-specified
criteria and who receive government
permission. An air bag off-switch may
be used when an occupant is at risk,  Dual Air bag system
this includes: infants riding in rear-
facing infant seats in the front
passenger seat; children aged 1 to 12
in the front passenger seat; drivers
who cannot keep 10 inches between
the center of the steering wheel and
the center of their breastbone; and
people with particular medical
conditions.
Initially, most vehicles featured a
Fig. 7 Dual depth Frontal air bag
single airbag, mounted in the steering
wheel and protecting the driver of the
car (who is the most at risk of injury).
GM’s new dual depth air bag is the
During the 1990s, airbags for front
industry’s first passenger-side frontal
seat passengers, then separate side
air bag that customizes restraint by
impact airbags placed between the
deploying in two different sizes and at
door and occupants, became
different pressures, depending on seat
common.
position, safety belt usage and crash
severity.

The dual depth air bag represents the

next level of air bag technology
because of its potential to help
restrain front-seat passengers in a
greater variety of seating and crash
situations.

The dual depth air bag deploys from

Fig. 6 Air bag deployment ckt.
Air bags are typically designed to
deploy in frontal and near-frontal
collisions, which are comparable to
hitting a solid barrier at approximately
8 to 14 miles per hour (mph) (13 to 23
km/h). Roughly speaking, a 14 mph
(23 km/h) barrier collision is equivalent
to striking a parked car of similar size
the front passenger side within the
instrument panel. When the small air
bag is required, a tether holds the air
bag back to the smaller size and gas
is vented from the module housing.
For the larger air bag deployment, the
tether is released, the module vent is
shut off and the air bag is allowed to
expand to its full size.
Advanced sensor technology is an
integral part of GM’s dual depth air
bag system. Using, among other
indicators, a seat-position switch
located in the seat track, the vehicle’s
Sensing and Diagnostic Module
(SDM) takes only milliseconds to
determine the shape of the air bag to
deploy.
The dual depth air bag debut on the
2006 Cadillac DTS and the 2006
Buick Lucerne.
Regardless of the air bag system in
your vehicle, you will minimize your
risk of an air bag-related injury if you
follow all instructions regarding child
restraint and lap and shoulder belt
use, proper positioning in the vehicle
and maintain the recommended
distance from the air bag.
 Head bag and side curtain
A new study of real-world
crashes shows that side-impact
air bags that protect the head
greatly increase a driver’s chance
of surviving a
side-impact collision
With another vehicle. In 1995 Volvo
was the first automaker
to introduce side-impact
Airbags as standard equipment.
Later, other automakers
Joined and began offering bags
That provided head protection,
Too.
The goal of such systems is to
Keep heads and chests away from
Hard objects, such as a pole or
The front of an intruding vehicle.
Side-impact air bags are now
Offered on many vehicles, including
Some economy cars. But
Some bags protect only the chest
and some protect only the head,
While others attempt to protect
Both.
 Side airbag and FMVSS (214)
Additional protection for
occupants was needed to reduce
deaths and injuries from side impacts
and especially to protect those
occupants more vulnerable to
fatalities.
•
Near side occupants in vehicle
struck in door area. As a result
increased side impact protection
requirements for passenger cars were
introduced in OCT 1990 with
amendment of Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard.

 EDR
The EDR has 3 purposes:
•Makes decisions about restraint
system deployment
•Measures collision severity
•Records the event data for future
reference.
How does EDR works?
•In normal driving conditions, EDR is
“asleep”
•When conditions suddenly change,
EDR “wakes up” records data and
determines if air bag should deploy
•If bag does not deploy, info retained
for 250 ignition cycles (6 weeks) aka
“Near Deployment Event”
–Non-deployment – the most severe
event if multiple events
•If bag does deploy, info retained
permanently
–One to three collisions may be
stored, depending on module
•On Near Deployment Events, time is
of essence.
Airbag deployment data are critical in
understanding airbag performance.
 Repair
The supplemental restraint system
(SRS)
In modern vehicles are highly
complex systems with a number of
components that require Exact
Replacement and Testing Procedures,
which require expensive equipment to
test, examine, analyze, and repair. In
most cases, the repair involves
replacement of components. Most of
the crash sensors are 'One Time Use'
Components, and are replaced, as
they are not repairable. All of the over
the counter repairs manuals are very
specific in recommending to you that
the dealer is the only one to work on
the (SRS) airbag system.
Airbag Injuries and Fatalities
Airbags involve the extremely rapid
deployment of a large cushion. While
airbags can protect a person under
the right circumstances, they can also
injure or kill.
To protect occupants not wearing seat
belts, US airbag designs triggered
much more quickly than airbags
designed in other countries. As seat
belt use in the US climbed in the late
1980s and early 1990s, US auto
manufactures were able to adjust their
designs.
Newer airbags trigger at a lesser
speed; nonetheless, passengers must
remain at least 25 centimetres (10 in)
from the bag to avoid injury from the
bag in a crash.
Injuries such as abrasion of the skin,
hearing damage (from the sound
during deployment), head injuries, and
breaking the nose, fingers, hands or
arms can occur as the airbag deploys.
Whiplash is the common name for a
hyper extension/flexion injury to the
cervical, thoracic or lumbar spines.
The injury is referred to as "whiplash"
due to the neck or back being thrown
forwards and/or backwards at a rapid
speed. This causes the fibres of the
neck muscles to tear, resulting in pain
and often a decreased range of weight of the occupant,
movement. Whiplash is a commonly whether the occupant is
associated with motor vehicle present (especially in the
accidents, usually when the vehicle case of passenger-side
has been hit in the rear, however the air bags where
injury can be sustained in many other. deployment may be
unnecessary if there are
Benefits no passengers), and the
proximity of the driver to
Air bags supplement the safety belt by the steering wheel (a
reducing the chance that the driver slumped over the
occupant's head and upper body will steering wheel could be
strike some part of the vehicle's seriously injured by an
interior. They also help reduce the risk air bag deployment).
of serious injury by distributing crash  Conclusion
forces more evenly across the • Air bags
occupant's body. reduce the
"One recent study concluded that as risk of
many as 6,000 lives have been saved dying in a
as a result of airbags." direct
However, the exact number of lives frontal
saved is almost impossible to crash by
calculate. about 30
 Future percent.
• The air bags of the • Airbag
future will be more system
economical to produce needs
and lighter in weight; will costly
involve smaller, more manufactur
integrated systems; and ing process
will use improved which
sensors. Head and/or increases
knee bolsters (energy the cost of
absorbing pads) to vehicle
complement the air bag which is
system are also being not
investigated. affordable
• Rear-seat air bags are to middle-
also being tested but class
consumer demand is not customer.
expected to be high. • Airbag
• In the future, more system is
sophisticated sensors mandatory
called "smart" sensors in western
will be used to tailor the nations,
deployment of the air such
bag to certain awareness
conditions. is needed
• Sensors could be used in india
to sense the size and also.
References:

Periodicals

• Gottschalk, Mark A.
"Micromachined Airbag Sensor
Tests Itself," Design News.
October 5, 1992, p. 26.
• Grable, Ron. "Airbags: In Your
Face, By Design," Motor Trend.
January, 1992, pp. 90-91.
• Haayen, Richard J. "The Airtight
Case for Air Bags," Saturday
Evening Post. November, 1986.
• Reed, Donald. "Father of the Air
Bag," Automotive Engineering.
February, 1991, p. 67.
• Sherman, Don. "It's in the Bag,"
Popular Science. October, 1992,
pp. 58-63.
• Spencer, Peter L. "The Trouble
with Air Bags," Consumers'
Research. January, 1991, pp. 10-
13.

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