What is the speed of a deploying airbag?

Question

in mph? if known

Answer 1

faster than your head hitting the steering wheel thats for sure.

you won't even see it its an explosive charge that detonates and gas fires into the bags the bags go completely flat about five seconds later. usually when the airbags come out if your car is worth less than 10000 its a financial write off unless you really want it fixed "money no object"

Answer 2

Airbags deploy only when they might be needed to prevent serious injury.

Frontal driver and passenger airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal crashes equivalent to hitting a solid barrier at 10-12 mph.

Some manufacturers use different inflation thresholds depending on whether people are using their safety belts.

Thresholds of 10-12 mph typically are used for unbelted occupants, but thresholds are higher — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds.

Answer 3

Ever been snapped by an elastic?  Its about that fast

Over 200 mph anyway...

Answer 4

The funny answer would be "faster than blink of an eye".

More elaborate answer is taken from the wikipedia. I quote.

"Typically, the decision to deploy an airbag in a frontal crash is made within 15 to 30 milliseconds after the onset of the crash, and both the driver and passenger airbags are fully inflated within approximately 60-80 milliseconds after the first moment of vehicle contact."

Remember, at the moment of the crash, a body moves forward at the same speed as the car was prior to the crash, it is slowed down by the safety belt and catch by an airbag. Airbags are constructed with that in mind - the belts and bags work together.

Answer 5

less then half a second