To whom is attributed the quotation about how a car's onboard computer decides to deploy an airbag before the driver notices they're in a crash?

Asked by baronv (1

) January 11th, 2011

I unfortunately don’t recall any details about the context of this quotation. All I can remember is that they go through a list of the factors and calculations that a car’s onboard computer goes through in the event of a possible crash, and end with something like, “the onboard computer has decided whether or not to deploy the airbag before the driver even realizes there has been an accident”.

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1 Answer

I do not know the name of anyone in particular. However, I can say that a typical airbag inflates in 40 ms. This varies with the bag design.
My son was in a crash with a deer that jumped in front of his car at night. He remembered thinking the taillights of the car in front had gone out and then immediately wondering why his forearms were burning. He never heard or saw the bag until it was all over! Air bags go off with the sound of a shotgun but he swears he did not hear anything.
He was on his way to work and was 25 years old at the time so his reaction time should be pretty fast. The airbag’s was faster.

LuckyGuy (43690

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