30th Anniversary for the air bag
Three decades ago, the very first production car with the lifesaving technology of air bags rolled off the line, kicking off an industry-wide push for ever safer vehicles in the process. That car was an S-Class Mercedes-Benz sedan. Today, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that airbags have helped to save around 28,000 lives, in the U.S. alone, since the technology was first introduced in 1980.
NHTSA also says that in a typical accident, a driver wearing his or her seatbelt in a vehicle with an airbag is 61 percent less likely to be injured than those who skip the belt in vehicles with no airbag. Airbags are standard features in all new models these days and as many as ten can be found in some new vehicles.
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