Good Morning Viewers!
Why exactly are airbags so important to have in a car?
Airbags are designed to minimize the harm done to a person during a collision.
The idea is that the airbag inflates at the moment of impact to provide a soft cushion, which your body will strike. The purpose of the airbag is to absorb the shock of the impact without actually damaging you. They prevent you from getting injured by a 'it could be worse' system - you can either bash your head on the nice pillow of air which doesn't hurt that much or bash your head on the steering wheel, which will.

Airbags need to be coupled with seat belts to be effective - the seat belt is designed to restrain you while the airbag takes the force of the impact. This is why they are usually referred to as supplementary restraint systems as they supplement the seat belts. They are not much good by themselves. Airbags do work well in controlled conditions but they are not quite as effective out in the real world due to differing conditions and differing crashes.

An airbag does not need to protect you from shattering glass, by the way. This is mostly because the glass in vehicles is tempered, and sandwiched between two sheets of plastic. During a collision, glass will usually shatter into small pieces without sharp edges, but the majority is held in place by the plastic laminate
One of the sources of injury in an accident is the whiplash effect. When you get into an accident, the car suddenly stops, but you keep moving forward (the assumption most of the time is that the car is moving forward). The seat belt does the work of stopping you from hitting the steering wheel or going out through the windshield. The front driver and passenger airbag supplements the seat belt by limiting your forward motion even further.
Take note - supplement, because you could actually injure yourself further due to the airbag by not wearing your seat belt. Besides preventing serious injuries, they have saved countless lives.
There are two general types of air bags: Frontal and side-impact.
Frontal air bags are designed to keep the driver and front passenger from hitting the interior of the vehicle.

Side-impact air bags are designed to protect your head and/or chest from impact, and unlike frontal bags, can even offer protection in the case of a rollover
Courtesy:#Motomark#Automobile#Ltd