Airbags aren't the final solution to keeping you alive in a crash. If you're worried about the power of your car's air-bag in a car crash, consider the exploits of Col. John Stapp. It's the summer of 1954, and in the hot desert of New Mexico, Stapp, strapped into the seat of a rocket sled called the Sonic I, is hurtling at 632 mph toward a land speed record. He also is about to run into a wall, which makes the speed record somewhat incidental. In the next few seconds, a steel lip hanging below the sled will hit a trough of water between two steel rails, and the impact with the incompressible water will bring Stapp and the Sonic 1—in a mere 1.4 seconds—from a speed just shy of the sound barrier to a complete stop.
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