Airborne Particulates In Automotive Airbags

As driver and passenger airbags have become more common in the world and supplied as standard equipment in North America, interest in their emissions has grown. This interest has included studies on both the gaseous and particulate emissions that result from the airbag deployment gases. Different automobile manufacturers utilize different test methods for evaluation purposes and have adopted different limits for acceptance of airbag systems. This paper compares various airbag module design parameters and evaluates the potential effects on the emission of airborne particulates into the occupant compartment. Factors which were evaluated include airbag module design, inflator design, inflator peak output and cushion venting. The possibility of reducing airborne particle emissions from an airbag was investigated. Finally the most common methods of airborne particulate data collection in use in the automotive airbag industry were evaluated.