What it's like to experience an airbag:

You probably won't notice. It happens impossibly fast. It goes a little something like this:

  • You're driving along, or maybe stopped, minding your own business.
  • Whatever mishap is going to take place starts to take place. Someone pulls up or stops short in front of you, someone behind loses control, whatever. If you're unlucky, you might see it coming and it'll haunt you in the future.
  • There is a sudden, massive jolt. You are thrown forward and may, in that split-second, see an opaque green/blue/grey mass coming up to meet you.
  • You are bounced back into your seat. Your car is filled with dust, and either the hood or trunk is bent obscenely upwards.
  • The realization that something bad has happened sets in to your shocked mind, as you notice your car has stopped and your airbag is sitting, deflated, across your steering wheel.
  • That's all there is to it. It inflates in a fraction of a second, absorbs your face, and then deflates.

    In terms of injuries (as I skirt GTKY territory) I was lucky. Both my forearms were severely burned and scratched and bloodied by the airbag, I had a large red mark on my shoulder from the seatbelt, but I was otherwise fine - thanks to the assembly workers in Holland who had fitted the airbag to my car nine years previously. To avoid broken arms or wrists, I think a sensible grip on the wheel is necessary - my right hand struck the ignition key and bent it 45 degrees, because I was holding the wheel at 4 and 10 o'clock. Had it been at three o'clock or higher my right arm might have gone into the side of the door or into the dashboard, snapping my wrist.

    Replacing a spent airbag is not cheap - your steering wheel will be ruined and the new airbag and wheel combination will set you back in the order of hundreds of dollars/pounds. This is assuming your car is not wrecked. The steering wheel should still operate, though. You'll also finally see what an airbag looks like - they're usually a dull colour, roughly the size of a beachball, and made from tough, somewhat rough to the touch material. After use it will likely flop down to the bottom of the steering wheel, but not further (I have no experience of passenger-side airbags, which I believe are significantly larger)

    The most important thing to remember about airbags is to still wear your seatbelt! Without the seatbelt, you'll just slip across the top of the airbag on your exciting but lethal voyage into (and through) the windshield.


    J. Totale: I was driving a Volvo when I had my incident, and I have to disagree that they or other safety-centric car manufacturers waste money on safety features. As I've said, I was lucky. My car had good handling and was not impeded by the weight of all of its airbags and side-impact beams. It saved me from much worse, and I am thankful for that.

    I also disagree with the previous suggestions about removing airbags in favour of preventative measures. Accidents happen, that's why they're called accidents, and no amount of careful planning against disaster can prevent the odd mishap. And if that one mishap avoids being a fatality by virtue of an airbag, it was worth that airbag being installed.