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Your Next Car Could Have Airbags That Inflate on the Outside (popularmechanics.com)
German auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG has spent 10 years working on external airbags for cars, according to Popular Mechanics, and "The tech is finally ready for carmakers -- that is, if ZF can convince them to buy it."
With ZF's system, each side sill (the outside bodywork underneath the car doors) packs one airbag that runs the full length of the doors. Sensors on the car will watch out for any objects that look likely to slam into the side of the car. When the computers decide a crash is imminent and unavoidable, they deploy from the side sill, revealing the airbag. In no more than 100 milliseconds, inflators pump up the airbag to the height of a typical front bumper.
One advantage of outside airbags is that they disperse the forces of impact. An oncoming car about the slam into the side of your vehicle would strike with the relatively small surface area of its front bumperâ"and an even smaller surface if it strikes at an angle. But when a car hits an inflated airbag, the impact force is spread through the airbag and along the length of the vehicle's side structure, which reduces energy loads. ZF says its tech reduces intrusions into the passenger cabin by 30 up to percent, and reduces injury levels by 20 to 30 percent.
One advantage of outside airbags is that they disperse the forces of impact. An oncoming car about the slam into the side of your vehicle would strike with the relatively small surface area of its front bumperâ"and an even smaller surface if it strikes at an angle. But when a car hits an inflated airbag, the impact force is spread through the airbag and along the length of the vehicle's side structure, which reduces energy loads. ZF says its tech reduces intrusions into the passenger cabin by 30 up to percent, and reduces injury levels by 20 to 30 percent.
I drive a mattress with wheels already called a Cadillac.
It would be a very good solution for small speed collisions too. Especially for beginners. Even if not dangerous, a damage to a car may cost a lot.
Can't wait. Oh the things you'll see!
Just because something is coming at you at 35 mph doesn't mean it has enough energy to make an airbag safe.
About 2 decades ago, I watched some news coverage of innovative (but not really serious) ideas university students came up with to 'enhance' safety of vehicles.
The one that stood out to me was a modified van that, upon detecting it was going to crash head-on into something, would flip its bumper down, from which inflatable arms and hands came out to 'brace' itself for the impact.
AC comments get piped to
Same as my current car. Personal car ownership is a sad thing.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
place shrapnel-generating material on airbag ports
spoof sensors into detecting a collision
airbags launch shrapnel at victims
Reducing cabin intrusion is obviously a good thing (except in the stabbin' cabin) but if it is that effective at protecting from automobile impact, imagine how far it could launch a pedestrian!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I don't know how effective or how many tanks use it, but I've heard of similar tech used to help protect tanks. With an incoming shot, they explode some armor outward which helps blow up the missile and redirect some of the energy. I'm not sure if this is before the tank is hit or if the skin itself explodes outward on impact. Wikipedia has a article on it.
The car tech is active sensors. I can easily see hackers spending time figuring out how to fool the sensors into triggering the airbags. I doubt their security will be as strong as the military's. We must be driving whatever animals or insects who can hear into this range crazy.
The safety features that work in racing are cages, seats, harnesses & helmets. Internal airbags haven't found their way into racing cars.
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
The Volvo V40 sold in Europe at least has had an external deploying pedestrian airbag since 2012; most likely engineered and manufactured by Autoliv of Sweden. Side note- notice no Volvo passenger vehicles are part of the global scale Takata airbag recalls.
100ms is a very long time.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
imagine how far it could launch a pedestrian!
An impact with an airbag will injure a pedestrian less than an impact with the bumper.
That repel each other. :)
[($)]
I can see car vandals doing their best to trigger these airbags for yuks, especially when two cars with these type of airbags are next to each other, so each damages the other, with each respective vehicle's owner then suing the other vehicle's owner for damages.
Already, we have a tire slasher who had a knife on his boot (think a James Bond villain's assistant) who used that to shred peoples' tires, and only got caught due to a citizen's arrest. He's out and back at it, and every few weeks someone decorates all the windows of cars parked on the street with a baseball bat, key, and then finish the job lovely swastikas in Kryolan. This would be another thing for vandals to do to cause thousands of dollars in damage.
Just like my girlfriend.
So every near-misses and door dents we'll have to pay over $2000 for replacement doors, airbags, and labour. That's going to be great for people who can barely afford a car.
Because once it's a "safety device" it has to be in perfect condition for the car to be allowed on the road. Parking lot scrapes that would have been an otherwise innocuous door dent and a good pull with a suction cup will now require an expensive repair and airbag replacement. The manufacturer can charge a maximum because it has to be certified.
I hope they won't just take the manufacturer's word for it and independently evaluate the functionality and safety benefits before updating regulations and jacking up the costs. There's going to be added dangers too when the airbags don't go off (frontal collision or other) and the emergency services have to cut the door.
You never served and have no idea what you're talking about.
How big of a beach ball do I have to kick toward the car for the airbags to detect "a large fast incoming object" and deploy, costing $1500+ to replace?
It is all good until Takata turns them into outwards facing shotguns
Would it cause the bumper's external airbag to go off? People like to mess with new technology don't they? Reminded me of the simpsons for some reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Then, we pedestrians and cyclists will be knocked out before being run over.
Frankly, cars are so 1990. They gotta go.
A ding from a slow-speed impact can usually be pulled out with a suction cup that costs a few dollars (a shop will usually charge you $20-$50 in labor for it). Any residual scuffs and scratches can be covered up with touch-up paint you can get from your dealer for about $10 (you can get generics for cheaper, but matching paint colors is a pain).
A replacement airbag typically costs $1000+. And since these are exterior airbags, they're going to be bigger and thicker to deal with the higher impact loads, so will likely cost more.
A better solution for beginners learning to drive would be some sort of additional bumper you could attach around the car, like a case for your phone. It would bear the brunt of any impacts instead of the car's body. Or (a lot easier and less nerve-wracking), just teach the beginner in an old beat-up car.
And it'll injure the bumper less, too.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
great fun at the fairground.
- fly
- drive autonomous
- from a ride sharing service
- white
Don't go cheap on your next car purchase and get manually inflatable airbags.
Today's cap=== damage
When I got in a fender bender, my car was nearly totalled from the airbag deploy. I have a feeling this is primarily intended to bring in more body work.
ZF says its tech reduces intrusions into the passenger cabin by 30 up to percent
A done well job, EditorDavid.
Tanks use explosive armor to stop penetrating rounds. Maybe this would work on cars too.
Anyhow, if they can implement this without making the cars look too weird, and manage to keep the things from getting clogged with road dirt, this could be quite cool.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
On the surface, this sounds like a good idea if only because the smallest scratch on the exterior of a car now costs over $1000 to repair. The side airbags could prevent some of this damage, at least with slow-speed collisions and scrapes. The only problem is that it also costs about $1000 to replace an airbag that has discharged. For cars that have over 100K miles, insurance companies often declare them a total loss after an accident if the airbags have discharged. Replacing the bags can cost more than the car is worth, and it's illegal in the US to repair a car and put it on the road without the airbags in place and working.
reactive armour
After crash: "What the hell happened? All of a sudden this car turned into a cannoli..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
new youtube prank phenomenon will be people figuring out how to "scare" people's external airbags into deploying by moving objects toward the car at high speed and stopping suddenly
the best part is that technically the pranksters never touch the car so they did nothing wrong
Typical AMERICAN summary. This is becoming a daily occurrence on Slashdot. Sorry - 'Climatedot'.