Airbags
By
Prof.B.Ashok
What are Airbags?
• Supplementary Restraint System for driver and/or passenger
safety in case of a crash.
• Airbags are designed to keep your neck, head, and chest from
slamming into the dash board, windshield or steering wheel.
They are designed to work with safety belts
• Basic Mechanism: A thin nylon bag in the steering wheel / above
glove compartment inflates in the event of an impact and
prevents the driver/passenger from hitting the steering
wheel/dashboard.
What are the typical components
in this system?
Air Bags Air Bag Module
Crash/Safing Sensors Clock Spring
System Wiring and
Smart System Devices
Connectors
Copyright 2000 AST Training
Without Airbag
With Airbag
TYPES
DRIVERS SIDE AIRBAG
PASSENGER AIR BAG
Airbag Module
• Contains both inflator unit and light-weight fabric airbag and
is located either inside:
1) Steering wheel hub 2) Above glove compartment
3) Near side compartment (as separate/combined
head/side/window-curtain airbag)
• Airbag: Thin nylon fabric bag folded neatly into steering
wheel that inflates to the size of a large beach ball on
impact.
• Inflator unit: Contains a number of sodium azide pellets
which are electrically ignited to produce N2 that then fills
the airbag. This is preferred to storing compressed gas
in the unit (space, durability)
• Both airbag and inflator unit are for single deployment only
– ie have to be replaced after a crash
Curtain Side Air
Bag
Thorax Side Air
Bag
Passenger Side Frontal Air
Bag
May 2010 12
AIRBAG UNIT
• Sides airbags are constructed of circular shape with light weight
nylon fabric measuring 714 mm in diameter are 152 mm deep
and fill volume of 65 liters
• Passenger side airbags are of tear drop shaped may be as much
several times larger, and are designed to hold 100-300 liters.
• Passenger side unit must be designed to protect a large range of
human body sizes, shapes and weights
• Nylon has higher specific heat and higher melting point as
compared to polyester materials, as well as greater heat of
fusion
Front Crash/Impact Sensors
• These devices are usually
located in the front grill area
or the kick pad/ fire wall
areas.
Crash Sensor • They are designed to
complete a circuit back to the
air bag module when a hard
enough crash is measured.
• Most impact sensors will be
located inside the air bag
control module.
IMPACT SENSORS
• Impact sensors are important components in inflatable restraint
systems
• several sensors are mounted in remote frontal areas of the vehicle,
wired in series or parallel combination with a safing sensors located
with the system diagnostics
• The primary function of the safing sensors is to prevent an
accidental detonation from shocks and jolts not related to the
accidents
• Types Of Sensors :
• Electromechanical Sensor :
• Electronic Sensor :
• Silicon Micro Machined Sensors :
Air Bag Control Module
• The air bag control module
is almost always located
inside the passenger
compartment.
• There are at least 1 and
sometimes 2 more safing
sensors located inside this
unit that must also close for
deployment to occur.
• This unit is responsible for
sending the deploy
command to the air bag.
Air Bag Assembly
• There could be as many as 14 of
these air bags located throughout
the vehicle.
• The main assembly is located in the
steering wheel. This units main
purpose is to protect the passengers
and driver in the event of a crash.
• These could be inflated at different
speeds depending on size and
weight of occupants.
Clock Springs
• Located inside the steering
wheel.
• This device is used to
connect the hard wired air
bag harness to the systems
harness.
• while allowing the steering
wheel to maintain a full
range of motion.
Air Bag Circuit Harness and
Connectors.
• The air bag
harness and
connectors are
yellow in color.
• DO NOT
ATTEMPT ANY
TYPE OF REPAIRS
ON THIS CIRCUIT!
Typical Air
Bag Harness
Air Bag Chemistry
On ignition: 2 NaN3 2Na + 3N2
Secondary reactions:
10 Na + 2 KNO3 K2O + 5 Na2O + N2
K2O + Na2O + SiO2 K2Na2SiO4
Airbag Before Airbag After
Collision Collision
ACTIVE Air Bag Suppression
• Means the air bag must
be turned on/off
manually
• Manual ON/OFF switch
• Frontal air bags only
• ON for older kids and
adults
• OFF for younger
children
25
PASSIVE Air Bag Suppression
• Front passenger seat
• Turns the frontal and/or side passenger air bag off under
specific conditions.
• You must read the Owner’s Manual to determine if it is
present and how status is indicated
Fluid pressure based weight sensors
Meeting FMVSS 208 Requirements For
Children: Frontal Air Bags
• PASSIVE SUPPRESSION: The frontal air bag is disabled
for the front passenger if a weight sensor or other type
of sensor detects a child or child-sized person is in the
front passenger seat.
• LOW RISK DEPLOYMENT: The frontal air bag is deployed
in a way that's less likely to cause harm to an occupant
(child in child restraint/out-of-position occupant).
• Note: Both systems are used by vehicle
manufacturers to certify their systems to the FMVSS 208
requirements.
NOTE: Our message is the same – ALL CHILDREN
UNDER 13 SHOULD RIDE IN THE BACK SEAT.
NHTSA Side Air Bag
Recommendations
•All air bags (frontal or side) are supplemental safety
devices and are intended to work best in combination with
seat belts.
• ALL children use a safety restraint appropriate for their
age and size (this could be a safety seat, booster seat
or adult seat belt).
• NEVER place a rear-facing infant seat in the front seat
of a vehicle with a front passenger air bag.
• To minimize injury risks, NHTSA recommends that
children not lean or rest against chest-only or
head/chest combination SABs.
What does the future hold?
• Smart Systems
• Seat Sensors
• Determine size and weight of individual.
• Optical Sensors
• Determines how close and size of occupant/car seat.
• Determines which way the car seat is facing.
• Child-Car Seat Sensors
• Determines direction of car seat.
• Occupant Sensors
• Determines if someone is present by measuring for body
heat.
• Air Bag Curtains
• Designed to protect the entire passenger compartment.
Don’t Forget!
Children under the age of 13 are safest
sitting in the rear seat properly restrained.
May 2010 37
FYI
• Pregnant women should always
wear their seat belts.
• They should sit as far back as
possible from the air bag with the
lap portion of the belt correctly
positioned over the hips (not the
stomach) and the shoulder portion
across the chest.
38
What will they think of next?
Pedestrian Protection with air bags? Inflatable Safety Belts?
CONCLUSION
• Inflating in a fraction of a second immediately after a serious crash
begins, airbags become energy-absorbing buffers between people
and the hard interior surfaces of vehicles.
• As belts offer more protection in other than frontal type of crashes
by preventing ejection from the vehicles, air bags are only to
supplement safety belts and not to replace them.
