Final answer:
The driver in the vehicle with the airbags activated would sustain less injury due to the concept of impulse, which illustrates that spreading out the force over a longer time during a collision results in lesser force applied to the occupants, thus reducing the potential for injury.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the scenario where an accident occurs between two identical vehicles with the same mass traveling at the same speed in opposite directions, the driver in the vehicle with the airbags activated would sustain less injury. This difference in injury outcome is due to the principles of impulse and momentum. In a collision, the momentum change (Δp) is the product of mass and change in velocity, which is the same for both drivers if the masses and velocities are identical.
However, the force experienced by the occupants is affected by the duration of the impact. The quantity Fnet Δt is referred to as impulse, and increasing the collision time (Δt) while keeping the momentum change (Δp) constant will result in a decrease in the net force (Fnet) experienced by the occupants. An airbag effectively increases the duration of the impact when it deploys, spreading the force over a longer period and thereby reducing the peak force felt by the occupant. Therefore, the airbag's deployment in car 2 will lead to a lesser force being applied to the driver during the collision compared to car 1, which lacks this feature.
Airbags are a primary safety feature designed to create a longer collision time, thus reducing the force on vehicle occupants. Car 1, without the airbags, would experience a shorter collision time leading to a greater force and thus more potential for injury compared to car 2, where the airbags activate, extending the collision time and decreasing the force on the driver.