The world's first side-impact airbag was introduced by Autoliv in 1994, in cooperation with Volvo. Side-impact collisions account for a quarter of all injuries to car occupants, but they account for more than one third of the serious and fatal injuries. One major reason is that the side of the vehicle is a thin crumple zone and the space between the occupant and the side of the vehicle is small. According to data from real crashes in the U.S., side airbags that include head protection are reducing deaths by about 45% among drivers of passenger cars struck on the near side, i.e. the side closest to the occupant. The thorax bag is inflated within 12 thousands of a second; four times faster than a frontal airbag.
