One System, Every Shot: Inside SureFire 6

In an occupant-safety lab, the hard part was never firing the device. It is everything that has to happen around the shot, in sync, every single time: the squib pulse, the high-speed cameras, the pressure and current channels, the lights, the interlocks, and the traceability record. Handle that manually across a rack of separate boxes and you inherit variability, slow cycles, and gaps in the data. SureFire 6, now in its sixth generation, exists to make all of it a single automated, reproducible operation. It is the oldest and most established product Microsys makes — continuously refined since 1992 across nearly 400 installations worldwide — and it remains the platform most airbag and interior programs build their test cells around.

The compact SureFire 6 rack

One system instead of a rack of them

Rather than stitch together separate firing, imaging, acquisition, and safety hardware, SureFire integrates them. A single system handles airbag firing, high-speed camera and photographic-light control, sensor data acquisition, squib power supplies, and the full set of facility safety interlocks — all under one configurable software environment. Tests run either fully automatically or computer-assisted, and because the sequence is automated end to end, results are more reproducible and operating costs lower than a manual cell can achieve. SureFire controls the cameras, saves the image data, and creates AVI movies automatically, so imaging is part of the test rather than a manual chore bolted on afterward.

The same platform across every occupant-safety test

SureFire 6 is not one machine per test type; it is one configurable platform. The same system is deployed as an automated static airbag deployment system, a seatbelt pyrotechnic pretensioner test system, a cushion or bag burst/inflate system, an inflator pressure-vessel (ballistic tank) system, and dynamic high-G sled or crash test systems. A lab that standardizes on SureFire gets one operating model, one software environment, and one data path across all of them — a large part of why it delivers the industry's highest levels of integration and productivity.

Data you can trust, by design

Integration only matters if the numbers are clean. SureFire performs high-speed 16-bit acquisition of squib voltage and current alongside airbag pressure channels, with hardware offset correction and careful electrical isolation to raise accuracy. Full input and output isolation ensures firing energy always passes through the inflator and that cross-talk interference cannot corrupt the measurement. Automatic 4-wire squib resistance measurement is taken both before and after deployment, and squib cables are rated for -40°C to +110°C for testing across temperature — with conditioning chambers available in numerous sizes, including an auto-door configuration.

Built for a production floor

SureFire is designed for real LAT, COP, development, and DV/PV workloads. It automatically controls and monitors every facility safety device — emergency stops, door sensors and electronic locks, exhaust fans, ventilation, warning lights, and audible alarms — so automated firing stays safe. Automatic data exchange with traceability systems enables genuinely paperless operation, access is password-protected with separate operator and supervisor levels, and an Interactive Mode gives technicians manual control of all hardware for setup and troubleshooting. For global operations, menus are available in Mandarin and German. And SureFire feeds directly into PowerPlay for analysis and reporting.

The result is what SureFire has spent three decades refining: one integrated system that fires the device, captures every channel and frame in sync, keeps the facility safe, and hands clean, traceable data straight to analysis — across every occupant-safety test a lab runs.

To configure SureFire 6 for your lab, or to upgrade an existing installation, contact the Microsys team.