An air bag system for dissipating the kinetic energy of a vehicle passenger during a road accident followed by a strong, negative acceleration has an air bag (10; 20) that may be inflated by gas generated in a combustion chamber and purified through a gas flow filter before leaving the filter chamber. At least some partial areas of the air bag (10) and/or gas flow filter have one or several plies of woven or knitted fabric layers (13; 24) made of individual bonded fibres of an inorganic, preferably ceramic, fibrous material. This protects the vehicle passengers from the pollutants emitted when the air bag of the air bag system is filled with hot gas without reducing the effectiveness of the air bag system.
