In the event of a car collision, the force needed to stop the passenger is very large, as the rider’s momentum remains the same while the car’s momentum has reduced to zero. The purpose of an airbag is to cushion the passenger with minimum damage. The device has to work within a fraction of a second.
The two components of the system are: Fine nylon bag that is creased into the dashboard or steering wheel, the seat or door. The second part is the sensor, the mechanism that activates bag inflation. The bag inflates when a crash force equivalent to running into a brick wall at 10 mph is applied. Air-bag technology is growing rapidly as better designs are developed based on new concepts and actual crash data.
By Mike Alwais, Ramtron International Corp.
Safety systems for automobiles are expected to become more sophisticated over the next several years. A principal driver of this trend is expected to be regulation which will impact both the attach rate and the sophistication of airbags and stability control systems. The electronic content of these systems will increase and with it, the demand on...