The 30 Years of the Airbag

Although the airbag was technically invented almost 60 years ago, it was not until 1981 that it was first offered in a production car. Contrary to what many believe, it was not Volvo who first offered an airbag for sale, but Mercedes-Benz.

At the end of 1980, Mercedes-Benz presented the next generation of its high-end car, the S-Class or the W126. This model introduced, as an optional novelty, the use of two airbags, one for the driver and one for the front passenger. Mercedes had been testing the system for several years, together with the first anti-lock braking system, ABS, which was already commercially available.

In fact, the airbag had been invented by an American named John W. Hetrick, many years earlier. Although the new invention was offered to the American automakers of the time, it was not accepted, as they had little interest in matters of safety. Later, Breed Corporation offered a model based on electromechanical operation. Although this time the companies were interested, it was not until the mid-1980s that the airbag became mandatory, keeping pace with the global safety legislation.

Regarding the Mercedes system, its novelty was that it worked in conjunction with a seatbelt pretensioner, to reduce the movement of the passenger and to make the impact against the airbag as gentle as possible.

Today, the airbag is fitted to millions of cars around the world, and few models do not include them as standard. And although in its early commercial phases it was criticised (it was even claimed that there were deaths caused by the airbag), the latest generations of airbags can now adjust their inflation parameters according to the weight and size of the passenger, seat position and the state of the seatbelt pretensioners at the moment of the collision.

Source: About