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Autoliv manufactures inflators and initiators, critical for airbag deployment and inflation. Pyrotechnic, stored gas and hybrid airbag inflators are used to fill the airbag cushion during a crash. Autoliv’s single-stage and dual-stage airbag inflator technologies are proven to meet the most stringent governmental and customer requirements worldwide.

 Airbag Inflators

Inflators produce a quantity of gas, with a certain composition, temperature, and controlled rate. Inflators fill the airbag system to sufficiently cushion an automobile occupant in certain injury scenarios.

Inflator types:

  • Pyrotechnic Inflators
  • Stored Gas Inflators
  • Hybrid Inflators

Pyrotechnic Inflators

A pyrotechnic is a chemical material that burns at a controlled rate to produce gas, heat, or particles.

A gas generant is a pyrotechnic whose primary output is gas. Autoliv’s pyrotechnic inflators contain a core of solid-gas generant. During a crash, this generant is ignited and produces a harmless nitrogen-based gas as it burns. This gas is then forced through filters in the inflator which cools the gas and removes particulates. As the gas exits the inflator, it enters the airbag cushion, deploying it in time to provide life-saving protection for the vehicle’s occupants.

Stored Gas Inflators

In a stored gas inflator, gas is produced by a controlled release of gas that is stored at high pressure.

 Unlike our pyrotechnic inflator designs, Autoliv’s stored gas designs rely on compressed gas to deploy the airbag. Our hybrid designs use an internal pyrotechnic heating device to compensate for the cooling effect resulting from the expansion of the compressed gas when the airbag deploys. Other award-winning designs, such as our side-impact and head protection inflators, use stored nitrous or helium to inflate our safety restraints. These stored gas technologies offer a cooler gas alternative to solid pyrotechnic inflators.

Hybrid Inflators

Hybrid inflators feature a flexible design combining stored gas and pyrotechnic technologies.

Autoliv hybrid Inflators utilize inert environmentally friendly compressed gas and a limited amount of pyrotechnic material - to inflate the airbag. Hybrid inflators offer numerous advantages over pyrotechnic and stored gas inflators. While offering a more tailored performance capacity, hybrid inflators offer a lower exhaust temperature, reduced airborne effluents, and particulates than their pyrotechnic counterparts.

Initiators and Micro Gas Generators

Autoliv provides two small yet key components that are critical to the ignition process which causes an airbag to deploy.

Initiators

Similar to a spark plug in design, the initiator or gas generant is ignited using electrically triggered initiators which provide a reliable, tunable ignition of the individual shapes of airbag inflator sequences. Using glass-to-metal technology, Autoliv initiators can be tailored for customer-specific connector interfaces as well as for axial or radical output direction.

Micro Gas Generators

These small gas generators utilize an inflation method similar to their larger airbag counterparts. But their smaller size enables us to integrate them into our pyrotechnic seat belt pre-tensioning products.

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