Whenever your vehicle, truck, SUV or car is included in a crash, the airbag sensors would be the initial elements to discover the crash.
In previous vehicles, these detectors have been basic switches that reacted to changes in speed as the vehicle slowed down throughout the accidents. After two detectors “closed" to affirm that an accident was happening, electric current was permitted to flow into the air bag modules.
In newer vehicles, digital detectors measure the deceleration (negative acceleration) of the car, precede it via a computer algorithm, and compare the measured values to the values saved within it in crash testing.
If the quantified values indicate that the collision is much more intense than the saved crash tests, the controller module will allow electric current to flow into the air bag modules.
Image Source: Google
When the electric current is flowing into the air bag modules, then it warms a “squib" inside the inflator which has a little filament within a container of explosive or flammable substance. When the filament gets hot, the compounds start to burn.
Many airbag manufacture companies are now facing a lawsuit for their faulty airbags and becoming the reason for passenger injury or deaths. Takata is one of them. If someone got injured because Takata airbags then he /she can file Takata airbag court case.
This burning sets a bigger response of a compound called sodium aside inside the inflator, which quickly creates hydrogen gas, together with many byproducts.