In an igniter of this invention, an insulated cup and a harness supporter for forming an igniter body are made of an insulating member and a lead electrode which is connected to the ground is electrically conducted to a header case, so that ignition of an igniting agent due to discharge of static electricity can be surely prevented.

A firing device, in which electrostatic chargings do not lead to an unintentional triggering of the firing element, is composed of a module housing in which a firing element and a circuit means arrangement are arranged, and which has terminal posts that, on the one side, are contacted to the circuit arrangement, and on the other side, are brought out from the module housing for the connection to a plug connector. The firing device includes at least one conductive member that is contacted to the firing capsule and that has a defined distance to the individual terminal posts, such that, in response to an electrical charging, a voltage sparkover occurs between the terminal posts and the conductive member.

A single charge pyrotechnic material comprising a metal fuel, an oxidizer and a secondary fuel which can be used to control the rate of reaction of the pyrotechnic. The composition can be used as a single charge igniter in an automotive air bag system in place of the separate ignition charge and enhancer charge currently utilized.

An electro-pyrotechnic initiator includes two electrical pins (7) for supplying current, a pyrotechnic composition (4) stored in a receptacle (2, 3) and a bridge (23) establishing an electrical connection between the two pins (7). The bridge (23) is set down on a wafer (11), the bridge (23) and the wafer (11) forming part of an electronic micro-component (20) to which the pins (7) are connected. The composition (4) is compacted in the receptacle (2, 3), the composition (4) and the micro-component (20) being brought together under pressure in the receptacle (2, 3). A housing for a helium saturated material is provided at a bottom of the receptacle.

A detonator comprising a case into which is inserted a quantity of an explosive composition, a semiconductor bridge positioned adjacent one end of the explosive composition which is electrically connected to a spark gap and in some embodiments a capacitor and a bleeder resistor. A pair of electrically conductive wires are connected to the spark gap and semiconductor bridge to provide a means for passing an electrical charge to the semiconductor bridge. The detonator also may include an r.function. attenuator, such as a ferrite bead, through which the electrically conductive wires pass. The ends of the detonator case are sealed by any appropriate means.