The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety is holding a series of training sessions, throughout the state, designed to instruct first responders how to deal with the potential dangers of undeployed airbags and high-voltage vehicle battery systems in crashes involving hybrid electric vehicles.

Leading the sessions is Dave Long, who is nationally known as "The Airbag Detective." Long says that while some of these airbags deploy during a crash, others do not … and those undeployed airbags could be dangerous if they go off during rescue operations. So, it’s important for emergency responders to know where the airbags are located and what might cause them to blow.

Long says that while manufacturers give police and fire departments emergency response guides, many of the first responders are volunteers who do not have access to the guides, and they need the updated training. Long says there are 23 kinds of hybrid vehicles sold in the country today and more are on the way.

More than a dozen training sessions are being held in various locations, ending with three in St. Louis in March.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)