"Screech! Bang! Crash!" The two cars smash. Sheet metal cries out in metallic anguish and glass shatters in your face. If you ever wreck your car going 30 mph into another car or another object like a tree, you'll be thankful that the airbag deployed. History shows controversy rages with the usage of airbags. Research has shown the positive effects that they have on saving lives. An airbag is a safety device assembled in a motor vehicle. It consists of a bag designed to inflate quickly with air, when a vehicle crashes. The airbag keeps your head from hitting the dash or steering wheel and protects the passengers from being flung into the interior structure of the vehicle. Some people have been saved by them. Other people have never seen airbags deployed in their car. Either way, the airbag has been a national controversy for decades. It is a protective device, but in some cases it has been harmful, and even deadly. Joe Tuha body shop Manager at Sunset Ford has worked in the body shop for 25 years, said "I have witnessed where airbags have saved many lives. Keith Combs (writer for The Body Shop Business, Manager for Bill Roberts Chevrolet) says, "Fact is airbags do save lives, I'm reminded of it regularly." The conception of the airbag, came from a German engineer named Walter Linderer who worked first on a design for an airbag in 1951, that later was patented on November 12, 1953. His design was based on compressed air. However, three months earlier, John Hetrick, got a patent on his airbag issued on August 18, 1953. Hetrick beat Linerer to the punch, even though he started a year later on his design for an airbag (1952), Hetrick got his patent earlier, ironically, making him the founder of the automotive airbag instead of Linderer. Hetrick was an American industrial engineer, retired from the U.S. Navy; he based his design on compressed air from torpedoes. The story behind Hetrick is, he and his family had been driving around the Pennsylvania countryside when a large rock in the road caused Hetrick to veer into a ditch. With no restraint systems, Hetrick and his wife were forced to hold their daughter back, stopping her from hitting the dashboard and saving her life  (as quoted from James Scoltock, from Automotive Engineer), before the dash jumped up and pounded their child. That was the catalyst for Hetrick to develop a system to protect drivers and passengers. Hetrick worked with major car manufacturers, but they chose not to invest. Almost ten years later, around 1963 in Japan, a gentleman named Yasuzaburou Kobori, invented an airbag.[ Which technology modern airbags are constructed, he was awarded patents in 14 countries.] In 1967, Allen K Breed had a breakthrough in airbag sensors. He invented a mechanically- based, ball- in-tube component for front end collisions. It's an electromechanical sensor with a steel ball attached to a tube with a magnet that could inflate an airbag under a 30 milli-second timeframe. Mr. Breed later on came up with another important advancement in the field. Specifically the airbag that vents air as it inflates, minimizing the possibility of second hand injuries by reducing the inflated bags rigidity. Airbags first appeared in passenger vehicles during the 1970's. The airbags were mostly encased in the steering wheel center. Like hide and seek, it stays hidden from all eyes. Like playing the game, ghost in the graveyard