This is Nottingham --NOT long ago, top German motor racing driver Bernd Schneider was hurling his Mercedes touring car around the twists and turns of Europe's most dangerous motor racing track, the 14 mile-long Nurburgring.
Barrelling down through one of the many chicanes, his car crashed against the kerbing, inflating, to his surprise, the airbag that Mercedes insists is fitted even to its racing machines: just what he didn't need at over 100mph in the middle of a forest.
Yet examine the facts and there's an overwhelming case for having airbags.
Airbags are compulsory these days in the European market. The airbag concept – a large cushion which explodes from the centre of the steering wheel to protect your head when the car sustains a violent front impact – was originally a European concept anyway. Mercedes-Benz pioneered its development way back in 1967 and little in essence has changed since.
The fact that your car is fitted with an airbag should not give you a false sense of security. Unlike the 60-litre airbags used in the US (where seatbelt wearing is not compulsory in some states) the smaller 40-litre bags that most cars use here must work in conjunction with seatbelts if they are to be really effective.
As the deployment of airbags has become compulsory on new cars, manufacturers now fit a whole range to protect the driver and passengers. As well as passenger airbags, there are now side-impact airbags, curtain airbags and even knee airbags to reduce damage to occupants' legs. Airbags built into the back of the front seats to protect rear seat passengers are also available.
Typically, an airbag will be fully inflated within 30 milliseconds (0.03 secs) after the point of impact. To ensure that it doesn't go off accidentally, or trigger in minor impacts, a threshold deceleration has to be reached before the sensors activate inflation. In Europe, this can be anything from 12-20mph.
There are few recorded instances of airbags going off accidentally. Manufacturers do warn, however, against exposing them to excessive heat (such as would be generated by a blowtorch or welding equipment), ill-advised tampering by DIY enthusiasts (don't) and excessive bashing of the module in the centre of the steering wheel.
Parents must also ensure that rear-facing child safety seats are not placed in the front, should the car be fitted with a passenger side airbag.
If used in conjunction with a seatbelt, the airbags are highly effective. The best known evidence is a story of an accident in the American state of Virginia. Two 1989 Chryslers hit each other head-on at a closing speed of 68mph. Instead of being killed outright, both drivers survived with only superficial injuries.
Recent tests have shown that even at collision speeds of 19-31mph, 30 per cent of belted drivers received head or chest injuries in cars not fitted with airbags, a figure that rises to 70 per cent at higher speeds.
When an airbag goes off there's an explosion no louder than the sound of a paper bag being burst which propels the nylon bag towards your face. Since it's not completely gas tight, it will automatically deflate again within a split second so as not to impair your vision or hamper your escape from the car.
Volunteers describe it like being hit with a pillow – and since an airbag distributes the force of impact so evenly, it's unlikely to shatter your glasses. Reported by This is 4 hours ago.