So, what’s the TL;DR version of this? Basically, it’s that an airbag helps support your head and neck in a crash, which is extra important because that helmet protecting your brain from impacts also makes your head heavier and subject to way more g-forces. A good vest system also protects your chest and back from impacts by inflating before you actually come into contact with something.

The smart part of modern motorcycle airbag tech comes courtesy of several gyroscope sensors and a computer controlling the inflation system based on extremely sophisticated crash detection algorithms. The upside of this is that it’s smart enough to detect when you’re having an involuntary dismount, but the downside is that sometimes it can get confused and blow when you’re not crashing, but hey, pobody’s nerfect.

Most motorcycle airbag systems are also reusable but require you to return the vests for repacking and recharging at the manufacturer after deployment. Given these systems’ not-insubstantial initial purchase prices, the repacking service is pretty awesome.

So, if you ride, be rad (and alive) like us and the Donut bros and level up your safety with an airbag system.