C1.10 Airbag¶
What is an Airbag?
Today, I experienced a friend's newly purchased Porsche. It's the top specification, with a cool colour – clearly a young person's car, and they waited a very long time for it. Then I noticed the word 'airbag' written prominently on the steering wheel. I hadn't paid attention to such large lettering before. I didn't know what this was in a car, only that aeroplanes have them, and I know what an airbag is on a plane, but I wasn't sure about the one in the car.
So, my friend gave me a quick lesson. This 'airbag' is the car's safety airbag. It inflates rapidly and deploys in the event of a collision to provide protection. It's a supplementary safety device, and generally, most vehicles are equipped with them. However, some airbags might not have an 'SRS' symbol, but this doesn't affect how they work.
Besides 'Airbag', the formal name for the car safety airbag is the Supplemental Restraint System, abbreviated as SRS. Therefore, some car buttons are labelled 'SRS', and some have 'SRS airbag' printed on them. This is a supplementary safety device. The labelling serves as a reminder that the seat belt is the primary restraint system, while the SRS is a secondary, passive safety system. The two need to be used together.
Furthermore, there are also the following types, corresponding to the numbers in the image below:
Front airbags
Driver airbag / front passenger airbag (DA)
Knee airbags
Side and curtain shield airbags
3. Side airbags / Front Side Airbags
4. Side airbags / Rear Side Airbags
5. Curtain shield airbags
Curtain airbags
Torso airbags / Side torso airbags, also known as Side-impact airbags.
