Motorcyclists To Get Wearable Airbags

jonerik writes "For the past hundred years or so motorcycle accidents have had an unfortunate potential for particularly horrific injuries, or worse. Improvements in safety gear have certainly been made in the past few decades, but in some ways those improvements have been balanced out by the tremendous speeds that modern bikes are capable of. According to this article from ABC News, though, Dainese, a protective sports clothing maker in Vicenza, Italy has developed a wearable airbag vest - called the D-Air - designed to cushion riders in the event of an accident. The D-Air vest features a tiny electronic computer referred to as the STM (which stands for Sensing, Triggering, and Memory), which was developed by an Israeli company called Merhav APP. According to the article, the STM contains sensors that monitor the bike's physical motion. 'The sensors onboard the STM will watch for telltale signs -- such as a sudden deceleration force of about ten times that of gravity -- that precede a collision. Once the computer determines an impending accident, the STM blasts the data to receiver in the vest to start the inflation process.' This site also features some pictures of the D-Air vest in action. Dainese plans to begin selling the D-Air vest in Europe in the spring, though American sales will have to wait since the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to set standards for such a device."

Comments

Is this the same patent?

[ianscot]

Is this patent from the same Tokyo commuter whose inflatable underwear went off on the train a few years ago?

(Who knew NASA technology would pay off in this particular indirect way? Now our motorcyclists are bouncing around like Mars Pathfinder... After the accident maybe they can enjoy some refreshing TANG.)

Worse?

[Skiboo]

Am I the only one that at first glance read that as:

For the past hundred years or so motorcycle accidents have had an unfortunate potential for particularly horrific injuries, or worse; Improvements in safety gear

Methinks I need some coffee... :/

personal air bags

[Lazarus_Bitmap]

Here in Dallas, we've long been on the cutting edge of this type of technology. Specialized silicon-based versions have been available for some time, though they seem to be much more popular with women than men...

My airbag

[night_flyer]

always sits behind me on the motorcycle.

(dont let her know I said that or she'll yell at me!)

Dropping your bike

[panker]

I have ridden motorcycles for quite some time, and everyone I know has dropped their bike while parked at least once. Having your airbag vest go off at that time would make the event even more embarassing that it already is.

Version for Segway also planned...

[clickety6]

It looks the same and works identically except that the trigger goes off if the wearer acheives speeds of more than 20 miles per hour, as on a Segway this is an obvious sign of a collision...

In the unlikely event of a 10g+ water landing...

[NotTheNickIWanted]

...your motorcycle gear may be used as a flotation device.

Re:Biking stories ... sniff

[jonerik]

It was the 3d person of a 15 member group of bikers that had died in the course of about 2 years, and i had enough. OK, most of the blame was up to us, we drove at incredible speeds on public roads ( 200 kph+ was not at all unusual

Christ, what was the name of this group? The Lemmings?

Fun with spark gap generator

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

12v relay - $3.50
9v battery - $2.29
momentary contact switch - $0.79
WarDriving with a spark gap generator to swamp the sensor in the exploding vest - priceless
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