American inventor who was granted the first patent for an automobile airbag system with a crash sensor (1958), which allows the bag to inflate nearly simultaneously with an automobile's impact, cushioning the driver's impact with the steering wheel and/or dashboard. It wasn't until 1972 that any cars were produced with airbags (when the Ford Motor Co. ran a demonstration project). In 1973 General Motors began offering its first airbag. By the end of the twentieth century airbags had become standard safety equipment for automobiles.