Airbags are one of those bits of car safety tech that seem simple until you look closely at how fast they actually work. Modern systems detect a crash, decide it is a real impact, and inflate a fabric cushion to catch your face in just a few milliseconds.
Naturally this made me wonder whether I could build something similar from scratch using whatever junk I already had on hand in the shed. That question turned into a full crash test experiment involving a homemade rail crash rig, a homemade stunt mannequin to serve as a crash test dummy (also way more complex than I thought) and a trigger system based on inertial fuel cutoff switch.
One of the biggest surprises was the inertial switch was actually fast enough (10 milliseconds) to trigger both a real car airbag and the various DIY versions I attempted. After filming I also discovered that the “magnet ball” inertial switch was the invention that made early airbags systems viable in the first place.
Check out the video below to see how my DIY versions went. Based on my dodgy backyard tests though, it would be fair to say that you definitely should not attempt to make your own car airbags.
If you enjoy my flavor random experiments be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Cheers, Craigo Turnah
