External Safety Airbags In View. Expect It soon In Cars

Airbags are among the common safety features found in most cars. The airbag technology was developed to reduce the impact of car crashes on drivers and passengers. You can go through our post on Airbags, How They Work And Types.

There are various strategic positions where these airbags are placed within the interiors of car. Some of the positions are the steering wheel, the dashboard, et cetera.

Aside all these airbags within the car, automotive safety supplier ZF TRW is up to something big; they are developing an external airbag system that could be in cars as soon as 2020.

Below is how automotive safety supplier ZF TRW described it;

ZF TRW had developed a pre-crash external airbag that deploys from the external side structure of the vehicle to help protect passenger in the event of a side impact crash. The airbag design utilizes a high volume 3D bag with internal tethers. This external pre-crash airbag helps to partially absorb the energy of a side impact collision.

In the external airbag design, it will deploy prior to an impact, unlike conventional airbags which deploy when an impact is detected.

You may also like: 5 Facts About Your Car Airbag

According to TRW, the airbags could reduce the force of a side impact by about 30 percent, and the technology seems promising, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

There are some considerations in actualizing this external airbags; it has to be resistant to weather, dirt, corrosion, small impact from road debris, etc. It must also be smart  enough not to deploy when there is no need to.