How Torpedoes Inspired the Production of Airbags

By: Nick S.

Like plenty of other safety innovations, the automobile industry took quite a while to adopt the idea of an airbag system to be deployed upon collision. It was an expensive tool to create when it came around in the 1950s, and there simply wasn’t much interest; an airbag wasn’t flashy, and it certainly wasn’t something drivers wanted to see.

Pennsylvania man John Hetrick knew that drivers needed to see an airbag in some cases, even if the automobile industry took a while to catch on. Hetrick ran his own car into a ditch over a decade prior to seat belts becoming a mandatory feature in new vehicles, and the abruptness of the impact led him to wonder whether or not a deployable cushion could help to protect drivers and passengers in collisions.

But the cushion idea came with setbacks, some appearing before design work even began. A collision at any speed tends to happen quickly, and Hetrick had to find a way for the cushions to inflate in a fraction of a second.

A solution came in the form of a memory from his time serving in World War II. As a member of the Navy, Hetrick recalled working in a torpedo-maintenance shop when one of the torpedoes accidentally switched on.

The image Hetrick saw next would be the basis for his design; the compressed air that powered the torpedo shot out upon its activation, inflating a canvas that covered it while sitting in the shop. Hetrick recalled the event in American Inventions:

The canvas “shot up into the air, quicker than you could blink an eye,” he later recalled. He wrote to car makers and insurance companies when trying to market his new invention. Only one letter was answered: the company replied that they were not interested because people wanted “fancy radios and fancy cars ... ”

Among those who didn’t respond to Hetrick about his 1953 patent for a “safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles” were Chrysler, General Motors and Ford. They soon changed their mind when Ralph Nader wrote his book in 1965 titled Unsafe at Any Speed, which called attention to numerous issues within the industry and the “gap between existing design and attainable safety.”

Others then began to pay attention. Seat belts became standard in new cars the very decade Nader’s book came out, but airbags didn’t make the cut that time around; instead, they had to settle for slowly gaining interest. According to History, Ford and General Motors began to install them in the 1970s. Models improved, but the airbags were far from perfect at that time.

The innovations kept coming, and airbags became a U.S. standard in both new cars and trucks by 1998. According to History, researchers estimate airbags to reduce risk of fatality in head-on collisions by 30%. It doesn’t seem like much, but any percentage in favor of not dying can be considered a good one.

Sources

 King, Alanis. "How Torpedoes Inspired The Production Of Airbags ." Jalopnik. 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. 

 Tullberg, Michael. "How Airbags Work." HowStuffWorks. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. 

Pictures & Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTvPndZOP9g

http://indianautosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Alfa-Romeo-Giulia-steering-wheel-at-the-IAA-2015.jpg

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1095064_nhtsa-expands-takata-airbag-recall-heres-an-updated-list-of-every-u-s-car-affected