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October 31, 2005
Mercedes Marks 25th Anniversary of the Airbag
What's more impressive -- that Mercedes installed the first airbag in a production vehicle in 1980, or that they started researching the technology in 1967 before they put it in the S-Class Saloon?
Perhaps this -- the airbag has been credited with saving over 14,200 lives in the US since they've become part of ordinary auto equipment, and, according top Mercedes, over 2,500 lives in Germany since 1990.
Mercedes had airbags installed as standard equipment in 28% of their cars in 1991; the next year, all cars with the three-pointed star had them as standard safety equipment.
Before putting the very first airbag in the S-Class, Mercedes engineers performed 250 vehicle crash tests, 2,500 sled tests and over seven million kilometers of test miles on cars to make sure they had a viable technology.
In the early days, some of the hurdles included getting the bags to inflate quickly enough, developing the proper material and fitting it inside the horn section of the steering wheel.
Current research is looking into ways to customize airbag deployment for occupants' height, weight, age and gender, as well as possible using a radar sensor to begin deployment of airbags in the moments before the actual collision occurs.
Posted by Frank at October 31, 2005 10:23 AM | Filed under Auto News
| Mercedes-Benz