Pardon my ignorance, but I need help from all.
My hubby and I were recently in a car accident and the airbag dust went down his trach ( trachestomy) and he had trouble talking for a few days after.
We were in a 1994 Honda, I need help finding the ingredients in the airbag. From my understanding the American made cars have corn starch in them but not foreign cars.
Any help and links would be so much appreciated.
It is hard to believe the ingredients are such a big secret.
The powder on the airbag fabric itself is either talcum powder, cornstarch or some mixture of the two. Both are harmless. However, prior to the early 90s, the propellant of choice was a substance called sodium azide. When ignited, this releases nitrogen, some amount of CO2 and CO and also some residual sodium hydroxide. This last is caustic and when inhaled could certainly cause irritation sufficient to impair speech. Newer airbags use much less toxic propellants.
I’d start by calling Honda Customer Service at 1-800-999-1009. Business hours are Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time.
You are correct about the talcum powder or cornstarch, but I believe that Sodium azide as was used well past the early 1990s before being phased out.
There is also the possibility of fumes from melted plastic. When the propellant in the airbag oxides, it gets hot real hot. Quite often any plastic that is in contact with the airbag will melt from the residual heat. Melting plastic can and will also give off fumes.
The last time I looked at an MSDS for an airbag, it just said to remove the person to fresh air.
Wiki says “during the 90s” which is less than hugely informative. Any idea of which manufacturers phased it out first or some kind of timeline for the phaseout?
Thank you for information so far. 
I will continue to investigate the ingredients you have listed. Hubby has some major medical issues and I want to be sure he can get help he needs in the event this causes problems. Iwill need to know what to tell his doctors.
Any additional infromation is also appreciated.
Thank you in advance
Who got rid of it first? I don’t know. I know that Volvo (who is usually right up there leading the pack on personal environmental issues) got rid of sodium azide in either 1999 or 2000, I don’t recall which.
ok
I got information but… how and were do I go to verify this ?
Hubby is cancer survivor and has trach from 3 months of radiation therapy.
will the ingredient harm him, think hard and dig deep in area of brain that thrives on research. I have to take him to doctor on the 25th and would like to have info to ask doctor about