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Safety restraint technology relies on woven fabrics as the principle material of construction. On impact, gases are generated instantaneously to inflate the bag. As the pressure within the bag increases during deployment and later from passenger contact, the airbag fabric stretches in a biaxial-manner. Passenger contact with the slowly deflating airbag accelerates the gaseous outflow through the fabric, airbag seams, and through specially constructed vents. A fraction of the impact energy can also be adsorbed by mechanical biaxial stretching of the fabric's fibers. However, the fabric's permeability and/ or vent system appear to be of primary importance to energy dissipation. A unique blister-inflation technique was developed and used to evaluate the fabric properties necessary for energy dissipation by these four mechanisms. The performance of fabrics woven from two traditional commercial polymeric fibers offered for airbag construction were considered.