Most people don't know it, but air bags are essentialy inflated by an explosive device that's a bit smaller than a quarter-stick of dynamite but with some of the same chemical composition. The heat it ptoduces when it goes off frequently burns people it hits, and it creates a smell combining cordite, chemical accelerants, and burning synthetics (from both the steering wheel and the bag itself being surface-vaporized by the heat)
So the smell would be common in most places where an explosive device goes off in surroundings with artifical materials

(I used to work on cars & know a bit about explosives, too)