Seat belts. Anti-lock brakes (ABS). Airbags. Some safety features make such an impact that they revolutionize mobility. However, you might not know how that life-saving marshmallow in your steering wheel, dash, and side paneling works. So, just how do airbags work to save you in a violent crash?

Airbags work in phases and do so in a fraction of a second

Before airbags, motorists typically relied on big, body-on-frame cars or unibody vehicles to save them in the event of a crash. As strange as it sounds, airbags weren’t a mandate for the American auto industry until 1998. Even then, older cars are grandfathered beyond the airbag requirement. Still, even if you’re a proponent of the old-school cars of yesteryear (I know I sure am), you can’t deny the safety benefits of a properly deployed airbag in an emergency.

Unlike the more primitive vehicles of old, an airbag-equipped car deploys its vital, life-saving measures in a moment. A fraction of a moment, really. Let’s say a crash is unavoidable. Upon making contact with an obstacle, your airbag system’s sensory equipment sends a signal to an igniter. The igniter will then initiate a sequence beginning with a non-toxic gas that inflates the airbag in your vehicle.

Don’t think inflating a tire or balloons at a birthday party, though. The process takes less than 1/20th of one second, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Moreover, after the bag inflates to deaden an occupant’s potentially dangerous momentum, it will typically deflate slowly. This allows passengers to self-rescue or first responders to access occupants after a wreck quickly.

And it’s a good thing that it happens so quickly. The NHTSA estimates that the advent and mandate of airbag technology has saved over 50,000 people in the United States alone. Therein lies the importance of ensuring your vehicle’s recall status is up-to-date. If you suspect your vehicle was one of the models in the massive Takata airbag recall, consult the NHTSA’s recall lookup tool.