With the success of airbags the problem of the service life of those systems has become an important issue. Airbag systems consist of electronic control units, a container, an inflator based on a chemical gas generating device or a pressure tank with compressed gas and a pyrotechnic heating charge, an ignitor, a bag and usually a plastic cover. All components and the assembly of these components have to be designed for a car's lifetime but undergo a certain level of environmental stresses during the vehicle operations. Up to now a systematic investigation of the ageing process is still a challenge and the real useful lifespan has to be guessed. Accelerated testing shall help to predict and to evaluate the changes in performance and functional behaviour of inflators and the other components. For this purpose the experience of military technology in the area of ammunition and rocket propellants may be helpful. The testing has to be based on the entire life cycle of the system, its environmental loads during all life phases and the evaluation of the effects of these loads on the performance of airbags. This paper presents some basic considerations from the scientific point of view how a program of testing could be developed. With an appropriate program airbags should be tested to a real end of their service life to make sure that airbags may be used until the end-of-life of cars even if these cars are in use for more than 15 years or even later as an oldtimer car. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126782.
Abstract