When a car undergo a collision, a series of reaction is set off in the airbag section of the car, which makes the air bag to blow out and take the forward movement of the occupants of the front seat. One of the chemicals produced during this reaction is sodium. Sodium has high capacity to react with water in order to become sodium hydroxide, which is a concentrated base and can be quite harmful to the occupants of the car. In order to avoid this, car manufacturer mix sodium azide (the major chemical in the air bag) with other chemicals, which will react with sodium to produce less toxic compounds.