Speedings Ltd were asked by several Fire Services to produce a product which would stop the danger caused by airbags deploying in vehicles after the incident happened i.e. when rescuers are trying to aid the casualty.

We decided that the material needed to be strong, but also have elasticity. We therefore decided that a knitted construction would best suit the requirements.

The material we eventually chose offered lots of advantages which were mainly:

• Used in the production of Police riot gear and fencing suits
• Extremely high resistance to bursting
• High protection against sharp objects
• Good elasticity to allow stretching

To complement the excellent quality material we also sourced:

• Kevlar thread, which offers maximum strength stitching
• Superior quality 25mm cam buckles giving excellent grip
• 25mm top-quality webbing for repeated use
• Welded square Dees giving the final strength to the cover

Together with representatives from Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade, Speedings designed its own version of an Airbag restraint. The attention to detail demanded at Speedings is obvious in the stitching, which has been designed for maximum strength to allow reuse of the Airbag Protection System (if used in anger return to Speedings Limited for an expert evaluation).

During trials the key findings were:

• It took an average of 12.5 seconds to fit the Airbag Protection System
• The fabric expanded on explosion, but the webbing did not, containing the airbag easily
• Each Airbag Protection System used withstood several explosions and were still useable