The First Airbag

Testing for the first ever airbag system to be put in a production vehicle.

In the early 1990s, we were bombarded with ads touting driver airbags in cars. The airbag was touted as an innovation in car safety, and it was; widespread introduction of airbags began in the late 1980s. Like most safety technologies, luxury cars had them first. But while widespread airbag introduction didn't start until the late 1980s, cars were sold with them earlier - you could get a Mercedes Benz with a driver airbag in Europe as early as 1980! (The American market had to wait until 1983). 

The Mercedes Benz system was the first airbag designed as a Supplemental Restraint System (SRS), which is designed to work as an integral system with a three point seatbelt, and is the ideal that all airbags have followed since. Even the ones that don't say "SRS" are still designed to be used as a supplement to seatbelts. 

But this wasn't the first airbag system. It was General Motors that first put an airbag in a production vehicle, in 1973! This system was called the "Air Cushion Restraint System" (ACRS) and had dual airbags. The option cost $225 ($1,079 in 2015 dollars) and could be ordered as a standalone option on most Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac models. 

The ACRS system was initially marketed as a convenience feature as well as a safety feature. In the 1974 model year, there was a short-lived mandate that required cars to be featured with an "ignition interlock" system that prevented a car from being started unless seat belts were fastened. This was an effort to increase seat belt use, which was below 15 percent in the 1970s. Fitting of "passive restraints" could circumvent this requirement, but the ACRS system was the only system that ever did this. In fact, the ACRS-equipped cars were equipped with only lap belts, as opposed to the three point belts then required on cars without passive restraints. The system was marketed as a substitute for shoulder belts. 

The passenger airbag on ACRS equipped vehicles was dual stage. It deployed with less force in more minor frontal impacts and more force in more severe frontal impact. This feature would not reappear in any other car until almost 25 years later. 

Obviously, ACRS has some flaws when looked at by today's standards. The biggest flaw was the deletion of the shoulder seat belt (but this could be remedied by retrofitting one). The bags were also large by today's standards; the passenger airbag was large enough to hit the driver. But for an airbag system of over 40 years ago, it was very good and provided great benefit to the safety of cars it was fitted on.