An airbag is a type of vehicle safety device and is an occupant restraint system. The airbag module is designed to inflate extremely rapidly then quickly deflate during a collision or impact with a surface or a rapid sudden deceleration. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, inflation module and impact sensor. The purpose of the airbag is to provide the occupants a soft cushioning and restraint during a crash event to prevent any impact or impact-caused injuries between the flailing occupant and the interior of the vehicle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_bag
Some people do everything right and still get killed by air bags — to date, 15 belted adults. Many of these were short (under 62 inches) female drivers who apparently sat close to the steering wheel and were hit by the air bag as it expanded.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1293/we-know-air-bags-can-kill-people-do-they-actually-save-anybody
Reports of eight deaths of child passengers in crashes involving air-bag deployment are of special concern because they involved low-speed crashes that the children otherwise might have survived. This report summarizes three of these eight cases (2).
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00039562.htm
Air-bag associated serious injuries and deaths to infants and children should be reported to Vernon Roberts, NTSB, telephone (202) 382-0660.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00039562.htm
“If N.H.T.S.A. believes a vehicle presents an unreasonable risk to safety, the agency would seek a recall,” he said. The latest death occurred when the airbag in a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup driven by a Georgia man ruptured violently in South Carolina, Mr. Trowbridge said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/business/takata-airbag-death-recall.html
Takata Airbag Flaw Linked to 10th Death; 5 Million More Vehicles Recalled. Federal safety regulators on Friday said that a man had died in late December when an airbag made by Takata exploded in the vehicle he was driving.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/business/takata-airbag-death-recall.html
Air bags, when used as a supplement to safety belts, effectively prevent deaths and serious injuries in frontal motor-vehicle crashes. Air bags are standard equipment in most new cars; federal safety standards require that all new passenger cars and light trucks be equipped with both driver- and passenger-side air bags by 1999.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00039562.htm
During the same period 115 people (66 of them children) have been killed by air bags, with another 40 unconfirmed deaths, for a total of 155. So we're talking 22 lives saved for every one lost. It's estimated that air bags reduce the risk of dying in a direct frontal collision by 30 percent.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1293/we-know-air-bags-can-kill-people-do-they-actually-save-anybody
The NHTSA's answer is that air bags and seat belts combined offer more crash protection than either device individually. Of the 3,448 people saved, 965 were wearing seat belts. Most of the people killed by air bags fall into identifiable risk groups — kids in the front seat, for example.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1293/we-know-air-bags-can-kill-people-do-they-actually-save-anybody
Credit Peter Morgan/Reuters. 1  As lawmakers press General Motors and regulators over their decade-long failure to correct a defective ignition switch, a new review of federal crash data shows that 303 people died after the air bags failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled last month.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/business/gm-air-bag-failures-linked-to-303-deaths.html
how many deaths from air bags
115 deaths are from airbags.  