Mercedes-Benz is blowing up balloons and lighting the candles for the 30th anniversary of the front passenger airbag.

At the same time, they’re also cheering hip-hip hooray for 20 years of the side window/curtain airbag which debuted on the 210 model E-Class back in 1998.

The front passenger airbag first appeared on the Mercedes 126 model range in Stuttgart’s spring of 1988, seven years after the driver’s airbag popped up in 1981.

Benz says its airbag development started as early as 1966, registering its patent in October 1971, and premiering it on the 126-model S-Class in ’81.

The basic structure and design of an airbag has changed little since its inception, with a polyamide fabric enclosing a rubbery inside layer, inflated instantly with nitrogen at the triggering of a sensor, before absorbing the kinetic impact of the occupant in concert with the activation of seatbelt pretensioners and force limiters.

John W Hetrick

It gradually deflates at the end of a crash cycle.

In September 1987, the airbags were made optional for S-Class and SL sports models, before becoming standard in 1992.

The side-curtain airbag was made first available on the 1995 E-Class before its global deployment in the 210 model E-Class of ’98.

Federal laws in the United States which came into effect in 1969 mandated ‘automatic occupant protection systems’ which prompted manufacturers to develop airbags.

According to American Heritage, the first initial concept and patent in the US was designed by John W Hetrick in 1952, after narrowly avoiding a crash that could’ve injured his daughter. He was granted the $250 patent in 1953.

The retired industrial engineering technician pencilled his “safety cushion assembly for automotive vehicles” the year before German inventor Walter Linderer received his own “inflatable cushion” patent, also in 1953.

In 1968, mechanical engineer Allen K. Breed invented the early, ‘five-dollar’ prototype crash sensor to deploy an airbag. It’s believed to be the world’s first electromechanical automotive airbag system and was borne from his expertise deloping fuses, timing and sensors for the US military.

Allen K Breed

Breed went on to design the 1991 patent No. 5,071,161 – a ventilated airbag system which deflates the airbag to “reduce the risk of secondary injuries by reducing the inflated bag’s rigidity”.

Breed developed his own company, Breed Automotive, to design and produce airbag and safety components, now known as Key Safety Systems, the company which has acquired the $1.6 billion Takata Corporation after declaring bankruptcy last year.