Daily Auto News Ford to Introduce Airbags in Seatbelts
Daily Auto News
In today’s new cars, front seat occupants are usually well-protected by a number of airbags. Some models protect front seat occupants with as many as four airbags each. They pop out of the dashboard and steering wheel, out of the seats to the side, out of the ceiling across the windows, and in some cases, below the dashboard to cushion the driver’s knees in a crash.
In the rear, most cars have just a head-curtain airbag to protect passenger’s heads.
Edmunds Inside Line reports, “Rear-seat passengers have sometimes been second-class citizens when it comes to the latest automotive safety features. But Ford took a big step toward remedying that on Thursday with word that it will introduce the industry’s first inflatable seatbelts for rear seat passengers.”
Kicking Tires explains, “Inflatable seat belts will reduce the trauma that standard seat belts can inflict on both young children and seniors.”
When a car is moving 40 miles per hour, everything in the car is also moving 40 miles per hour. If the car’s frame hits something that forces it to stop, things inside the car – including passengers – don’t automatically stop. They stop when they hit something. Seatbelts protect us by stopping our bodies, but their relatively small surface area means that a tremendous amount of energy is transferred to a few points on the body, and it’s not uncommon for passengers to suffer traumatic injuries from the seatbelts themselves, as well as from rapid deceleration as the seatbelt catches the body and brings it to an abrupt stop. It’s a fair trade-off – those injuries are far less severe than what happens to passengers thrown around, or out of, a vehicle. But Ford thinks it has found a way to minimize even the trauma caused by the pressure of slamming into a seatbelt.
Motor Trend explains, “Just like an airbag, upon detecting that an accident is occurring, the belts are instantaneously inflated with cold compressed gas, that flows through the buckle from a cylinder beneath the seat. The airbag is housed within the conventional belt fabric, breaking through the fabric as it inflates.” Ford claims that the airbags “do a better job of holding occupants in place, reducing the risk of injury.”
Autoblog notes, “When expanded, the belt cover five times more surface area of the body than a normal seat belt, which helps better distribute the forces of a crash.” That should, in theory, help to reduce seatbelt-related trauma.
Inside Line adds, “The belts look like and operate like conventional seatbelts and are said to be compatible with infant and children safety car and booster seats.”
Ford hopes to introduce the new technology on the redesigned 2011 Ford Explorer.
Ford is not the only automaker to have developed such a system. Autoblog notes, “The Lexus LF-A, also set to enter production next year, features an SRS seatbelt airbag as well.” The belts are unlikely to face their first safety tests in the Lexus, however. The LF-A is a $400,000 supercar, and Lexus plans to build only 500 examples worldwide. Such exclusive cars rarely undergo crash testing. The Explorer, however, is certain to face crash tests from both the federal government and the insurance industry.
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