Airbags By rlaustins Period: Jan 1, 1970 to Jan 1, 1980 Ford and General motors started to test air bags http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/the-evolution-of-the-airbag-cga.htm Jan 1, 1977 The Carter Administration mandated that all cars must be manufactured with either automatic seat belts or air bags by model year 1984 http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/the-evolution-of-the-airbag-cga.htm Period: Jan 1, 1980 to Jan 1, 1990 "Commercial" Air Bags introduced http://newman.richmond.edu:2370/eb/article-259056 Jan 1, 1981 Mercedes-Benz "S-class" is the first production car with driver side air bags http://www.driverstechnology.co.uk/car-safety-timeline.htm Jan 1, 1988 Chrysler was the first company to make drivers side air bags standard http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/the-evolution-of-the-airbag-cga.htm Jan 1, 1989 Ford installed air bags in 9 models http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/the-evolution-of-the-airbag-cga.htm Jan 1, 1991 President George H.W. Bush mandated that all cars must have airbags by 1998 and trucks must have airbags by 1999. http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/the-evolution-of-the-airbag-cga.htm Jan 1, 1999 All cars/ trucks sold in US must have driver and passenger air bag. (1999 for light weight trucks) http://newman.richmond.edu:2370/eb/article-259056