When did the first airbags on the car appear and who invented them
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The history of application began in 1971, when Ford built a cushion park where crash tests were made. After 2 years, General Motors tested the invention on Chevrolet 1973, which were sold to government employees. So Oldsmobile Tornado became the first car with a passenger airbag option.
From the moment the first idea was born to the appearance of airbags on cars, 50 years passed, and after that it took the world another 20 years to realize the effectiveness and importance of this device.
Who came up with
The first "air bag" was invented by dentists Arthur Parrott and Harold Round in the 1910s. Doctors treated the victims of the First World War, observing the aftermath of the clashes.
The device, as conceived by the creators, prevented jaw injuries, was installed in cars and airplanes. The patent application was filed on November 22, 1919, the document itself was received in 1920.
Plaque commemorating Round and Parrott's patent
In 1951, German Walter Linderer and American John Hedrick applied for a patent for an airbag. Both received the document in 1953. The development of Walter Linderer was filled with compressed air when hitting the bumper of a car or when manually turned on.
History of the prototype
The countdown began in 1950, when process engineer John Hetrick, who served in the US Navy, was in an accident with his wife and daughter. The family was not seriously injured, but it was this incident that led to the search for a device to ensure the safety of passengers in the event of an accident.
Applying engineering experience, Hetrick came up with a prototype of a protective cushion for cars. The design was an inflatable bag connected to a compressed air cylinder. The product was installed inside the steering wheel, in the middle of the dashboard, near the glove compartment. The design used a spring installation.
Prototype of a protective cushion for cars
The principle is this: the design detects impacts, actuates the valves in the compressed air cylinder, from which it goes into the bag.
First implementations in cars
The history of application began in 1971, when Ford built a cushion park where crash tests were made. After 2 years, General Motors tested the invention on Chevrolet 1973, which were sold to government employees. So Oldsmobile Tornado became the first car with a passenger airbag option.
Oldsmobile Tornado
In 1975 and 1976, Oldsmobile and Buick began to produce side panels.
Why didn't anyone want to use
The first tests of pillows showed an increase in survival at times. A small number of deaths were still recorded: design problems with compressed air variants in some cases led to death. Although there were obviously more pluses than minuses, manufacturers, the state and consumers agreed for a long time whether pillows were needed.
The 60s and 70s is an era when the number of deaths in car accidents in America was 1 thousand people a week. Airbags seemed like an advanced feature, but widespread use was hampered by opinions from automakers, consumers, and general market trends. This is a time of concern for building fast and beautiful cars that young people would love. Nobody cared about safety.
Lawyer Ralph Nader and his book "Unsafe at any speed"
However, the situation has changed over time. Lawyer Ralph Nader wrote the book "Unsafe at Any Speed" in 1965, accusing automakers of ignoring new security technologies. The designers believed that the installation of safety equipment would undermine the image among young people. The cost of the car has also gone up. The creators even called the pillows dangerous for passengers, which was confirmed by a number of cases.
The struggle of Ralph Nader with the automotive industry lasted a long time: large companies did not want to give in. The belts were not enough to provide protection, so manufacturers continued to denigrate the use of pillows to keep their products from becoming more expensive.
Breakthroughs in development history
Since Allen Breed's creation of the sensor system, bag inflation has become a major improvement. In 1964, Japanese engineer Yasuzaburo Kobori used a micro-explosive for high-speed inflation. The idea has received worldwide recognition and has been awarded patents in 14 countries.
Allen Breed
Sensors were another advancement. Allen Breed improved his own design by inventing an electromagnetic device in 1967: in combination with a micro-explosive, the boost time was reduced to 30 ms.
In 1991, Breed, who already has a solid history of discovery, invented pillows with two layers of fabric. When the device fired, it inflated, then released some gas, becoming less rigid.
Further development went in three directions:
- creation of various types of construction: lateral, frontal, for knees;
- modification of sensors that allow you to quickly transmit a request and more accurately respond to environmental influences;
- improvement of pressurization and slow blowing systems.
Today, manufacturers continue to improve activation, sensors, etc., in the fight to reduce the likelihood of injury in road accidents.
