Abstract: An air bag whose envelope is a front panel and a rear panel joined around a common periphery and having a tether having one edge joined to an inside surface of the front panel and another edge joined to the inside surface of the rear surface near the entry port. The tether has two members, an elastic member that is shorter than an inelastic member in its unstretched state. The elastic member controls the rate of inflation of the air cushion thereby lessening the chance of injury due to the sudden inflation of the air bag.