Who invented the airbag?

Who invented the airbag

In addition to the airbag, this inventor is also responsible for a closing system for plastic injection machines and patented about 400 other interesting inventions.

Modern plastic injection machine

Modern plastic injection machine.

Who invented the airbag?

His name was Peter Florjančič and yes, he was from Slovenia, which makes us very proud to be Slovenians too.

He was born in 1919 in the small town of Bled, which is now widely renowned as one of the most beautiful cities in this part of Europe.

Famous Bled lake island with church

The famous Bled lake island with church.

Besides being an inventor, he was also a very interesting man in many other ways. He lived to be 101, which is a superb accomplishment on its own.

In 1936, he was a member of the national ski jumping team and attended the Olympic games in Berlin. Some years later, in the middle of the war, he was drafted into the enemy army and was supposed to fight on the front. As a genius that he was, he came up with a master plan to avoid fighting for the enemy by staging his own death. He went on a fake skiing trip in Austria, where he was “killed in an avalanche”. But in reality he simply skied into neutral Switzerland, where he waited for the war to be over.

In Switzerland, he met his future wife and lived a quiet life.

Well, not exactly; due to his interesting life story and great inventions, he met several celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Salvador Dali and Coco Chanel. In 1957, he also appeared in the “The Monte Carlo story” movie starring Marlene Dietrich.

Mr. Peter Florjančič sitting on the right

Mr. Peter Florjančič (right).

He never stopped inventing, as this was his lifestyle.

Many of his inventions were related to plastic; besides his main inventions, the airbag and closing system for plastic injection machine, he also invented plastic ice skates, the plastic zipper and the plastic perfume atomizer.

Perfume bottle with plastic perfume atomiser invented by Mr. Peter Florjančič

Perfume bottle with plastic perfume atomizer invented by Mr. Peter Florjančič.

All of these products are still helping us today. We can also say without any doubt that Mr. Peter Florjančič played a significant role in the development of the automotive industry, as today we cannot imagine a car without an airbag and lightweight plastic materials.

Plastic injection car part made by Oeco d.o.o.

Plastic injection car part made by Oeco d.o.o.