Side Airbag Tank Explosion Complicates Extrication of Victim

摘要

In October 2006, a two-vehicle accident occurred in northern New Jersey in which there was frontal off-set damage and a driver was medically entrapped. The vehicle involved was a 2006 Volvo S80 sedan (photo 1). The vehicle was stabilized; the rescue team action plan was to remove the roof to facilitate the driver's disentanglement. The glass was managed, and the tool operator proceeded to cut the passenger side C post. As the tool operator cut the roof post, the hybrid gas generator (inflator) cylinder for the passenger side curtain supplemental restraint system (SRS) was inadvertently squeezed between the power hydraulic cutter blades. As the inflator was compressed, the approximately 6,000 psi of nitrogen gas it contained was also compressed, eventually causing the cylinder wall to fail, resulting in a loud detonation that sent debris around the incident scene (photos 2, 3).