Posted on 9/15/2021
Most of us don't even give the airbags in our vehicles a second thought because we rarely have to see them or use them. But how have airbags affected the automobile industry and society as a whole? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, airbags have spared approximately 40,000 lives from 1987 to 2012. As technology continues to improve airbags, this number will undoubtedly continue to grow. Who Invented It? The airbag concept was initially created by Walter Linderer from Germany and patented in 1951. It wasn't even coined as an airbag back then, but it was instead called a safety cushion. Unfortunately, Linderer's design of inflating the airbag didn't work well enough to inflate it completely. Another poor quality of the airbag was that it required a signal from the driver to inflate and initiate a response. Working off Linderer's approach, American John Hetrick began his design and patented it in 1953. He decided t ... read more