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Ford with glass roof, 1947. (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by MakunaHatata@lemmy.world to c/historyporn@lemmy.world

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[-] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago

Can't tell if you think old cars had airbags or if I'm interpreting your comment incorrectly.

From my own memory, air bags didn't really become a common thing until the late 90s. A lot of my cars from the 90s didn't have airbags at all.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Airbags were first patented in 1952. They couldn't even become common place until the patent expired.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Airbags were introduced in the 60's as an option, no one wanted the extra expense.

It took regulation to make airbags commonplace, not really much to do with patents, more to do with airbag manufacturers, auto manufacturers and insurance underwriters working together to lobby for the regulation...since it benefitted them.

Not that I'm against airbags in cars - this is just how it came about - vested interests.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago

For some reason, I didn't realize that airbags became a requirement. I always use my seatbelt and think I'd prefer not to have an airbag go off in my face, making it even harder to maintain control in the event of an accident.

[-] Seleni@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

Don’t worry; if a crash is severe enough that your airbags go off, odds are your vehicle won’t be going very far anyways.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

I'm more worried about directing it away from crowds or other cars. I wouldn't expect to be able to drive it home. And some airbags are overly sensitive. There was a big issue with some pickup trucks with snow plows mounted to the fronts setting of their airbags doing basic plowing work.