Autoliv puts SUV airbags to test
Autoliv's approach to enhanced SUV safety systems to protect pedestrians and smaller vehicles.
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Autoliv has revealed two new airbag applications specifically for SUVs: the Front Edge Airbag designed to mitigate the effects of an SUV being in collision with a pedestrian, and the Bumper Airbag, which addresses the problem of such high-hood vehicles being in collision with passenger cars.
Announcing the new developments at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles conference in Lyon, France, an Autoliv representative stated: "The fatality risk for pedestrians is 2.5 times higher in SUV impacts than it is for regular cars. Another difference is the impact area. While most pedestrians killed by passenger cars perish when they hit their heads on the hood or windshield area of the car, the majority of severe injuries to pedestrians caused by SUVs occur when the front hood edge hits the pedestrian's chest and abdomen. Autoliv has therefore developed an airbag to address this problem. Triggered by a pre-crash sensor [such as radar], the airbag deploys a few milliseconds before a pedestrian impact."
The company explained that the system had been tested in both computer simulations and in real crash tests, involving crash dummies representing an average male and a very short female. In the simulations, the Front Edge Airbag had demonstrated its ability to pass EuroNCAP requirements. In the full-scale tests, the airbag had decreased all critical injury values "considerably," the largest reduction being for the abdomen of the male dummy. Injury risk was reduced from 99% to only 3% when using the Front Edge Airbag. The test velocity was 40 km/h (25 mph), described as being the average impact speed in fatal pedestrian accidents.
"Based on the crash tests, it is estimated that this new airbag could save hundreds of lives every year in the United States alone," stated Autoliv.
The Bumper Airbag for SUVs also enhances pedestrian safety by deploying from beneath the bumper to protect the pedestrian's legs. "In tests, the violence to the lower legs of the pedestrian dummy was reduced by more than 50% to levels within the criteria set by the EuroNCAP rating agency in their pedestrian protection tests," revealed Autoliv. "However, the most important application of the bag will probably be in crashes when there is a mismatch in the height of the vehicles, especially when an SUV or other high-profile vehicle ‘T-bones' a passenger car. In these side-impact collisions, the front of the SUV typically hits above the sill and the energy-absorbing structure of the passenger car, resulting in critical intrusions into the passenger compartment and, in some instances, even collapse of the protection cage around the car's occupants." Crash data indicated that the risk of death in such crashes was between 27 and 48 times higher in a passenger car than in another SUV, stated Autoliv.
The 1.5-m (4.9-ft) long, tubular Bumper Airbag has also been evaluated in computer simulations and real crash tests. Mounted under the bumper of a Ford Explorer that was run head-on into the side of a typical passenger car at 48 km/h (30 mph), the bag inflation started 80 milliseconds before the impact, using a pre-crash sensor, and the bag's load-carrying structure swung into position. "The intrusions were significantly less at all measuring points with the Bumper Airbag. At the level of the head of an occupant, the reduction was as much as 40%. An added benefit indicated by the tests was that the time available to inflate the side airbags of the passenger car could be increased when the SUV is equipped with a bumper bag," stated Autoliv.
Stuart Birch
