WHAT'S UP WITH AIRBAGS ANYWAYS?

NO - NOT THE THINGS THAT POP OUT OF YOUR STEERING WHEEL when you run into another car

5y ago
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Airbags have been used on vehicles since at least the late ‘50s. In fact, even Cadillac used them on their high-end cars back then, which says a lot about an airbag’s ride quality capabilities. However, they are also often used on semi-trucks, which are not commonly known for being the pinnacle of ride comfort. So clearly, not everything that uses airbags will “ride like a Cadillac.”

In 1959, Cadillac offered an air ride option for their cars

In 1959, Cadillac offered an air ride option for their cars

Despite the simple concept - pressurized air is contained in a rubber bellow, which applies force against the upper and lower mounting plates - they can be deceptively complex. Of course, size plays a huge role in airbag function, but there are a considerable number of variables beyond size that determine the parameters of an airbag.

For example, at 3” of stroke and 80 psi, a 7” diameter Firestone bag will generate 1700 lbs of force, while that same diameter Slam Specialties part will generate 2900 lbs of force. Now don’t think for a second that this means a Slam bag is better than a Firestone, but it does mean that we have some tuning options by simply switching out parts.

There isn’t near enough room in this post to do much more than scrape the surface of airbag design, but if you’d like to melt your brain-goo, give this link a look:

Www.firestoneip.com/-/media/www/global/files/documents/Catalogs/EMDG.pdf


That link will take you to Firestone’s engineering manual for their air springs, and it is incredibly humbling. I mean, what the hell are we supposed to derive from this?

So this is how you determine the spring-rate of an airbag, huh?

So this is how you determine the spring-rate of an airbag, huh?

However, I digress… My point here is to simply introduce you to the concept that airbags aren’t nearly as simple, nor as complex as you might think they are. In the end, you can still just choose to run a triple-convoluted bag off a trash truck and you’ll be safe, right?

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