John hetrick inventor biography

John Hetrick’s invention was the first prototype of today’s modern air bags and derived from an accident on a Sunday afternoon drive.

John hetrick inventor biography

In the spring of 1952, Hetrick, his wife and daughter went for a car ride in their 1948 Chrysler Windsor. The car veered into a ditch on the side of the road to avoid an on-road collision.

Hetrick recalled “As I applied the brakes, both my wife and I threw our hands up to keep our daughter from hitting the dashboard … during the ride home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the accident.

I asked myself: ‘Why couldn’t some object come out to stop you from striking the inside of the car?'”

As a retired industrial engineer technician, Hetrick was concerned that there was not a device in the car to cushion the impact of an accident between the vehicle’s interior and the passengers.

Hetrick used his experience working with the Navy to create a safety device for vehicles. He received U.S. patent 2,649,311