Development of Advanced Inflator Technology for Automotive Airbag Modules

The predominant inflator system today for automotive airbag modules typically uses sodium azide propellant. Use of this type of inflator system has raised concerns about the toxicity and disposal of these systems. Under development is an advanced automotive airbag inflator system that is a non-toxic alternative to current azide configurations. The non-azide inflator uses a combination of organic fuel, oxidizer, and burnrate modifiers as propellant.

This paper will describe the development of an advanced non-azide inflator system for automotive airbag modules. Compared with present technology, the advanced non-azide system offers environmental compatibility, equivalent restraint performance, and significant weight and size reductions for improved packaging.