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First Airbag
The first design of a car airbag, by John W. Hetrick, is given a patent. -
Faster Inflation
Allen K. Breed, developed a ball-in-tube system for better crash sensors. The airbag took too long to inflate by compressed air so the implementing of a small explosion of sodium azide inflated the bag to a size of maximum safety in 30 milliseconds. -
First Commercial Use
In 1974, GM gave the option to put the improved airbags into models of Cadillacs. They gave this option because the buyer could substitute the air bag system for seat belts. -
New Standard
Chrysler now required all of their production cars to have passenger and driver airbags installed, by 1993 4 million cars had airbags installed. -
Side Airbags
Volvo cars were the first to use side airbags. These bags inflate between the driver and the door in order to reduce injury to the driver's torso. -
Curtain Airbag
Toyota first put this airbag into their cars. This bag inflates to cover the side windows of the car. These reduce head injury in the event of a side collision. -
Knee Airbags
The Toyota Caldina was the first car to use the knee airbag, this inflates under the steering wheel in order to keep the driver from smashing their legs into the interior of the car. -
Motorcycle Airbags
Honda installed the first motorcycle airbag into their Gold Wing motorcycle, this can reduce the velocity that the driver is thrown off the bike. -
Center Airbag
Toyota put the first side passenger airbags into their cars in 2009. These airbags deploy from the driver and front passenger seat backs to protect the rear passengers from injury. -
Pedestrian Airbags
The Volvo V40 first introduced the use of pedestrian air bags. These deploy from hard parts of the car like the edges when it senses a collision is imminent with a pedestrian. This gave the car a rating of 88% for pedestrian safety in the EuroNCAP's pedestrian tests.
