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Advances in electronic technology have enabled significant enhancements to automotive safety in the last two decades. In the 1990's, death and injury rates declined significantly thanks to airbag/restraint and anti-lock braking systems. Governments and insurance industries tend to focus/legislate performance for the most severe accident types, since these accidents cause a disproportionate number of deaths1. The industry tends to emphasize performance on the severe events without realizing the potential drawbacks, especially at the other end of the scale in low severity events. This uneven approach can lead to overly sensitive systems that respond inappropriately in low severity events. This paper outlines the need to avoid industry ratings and government requirements that emphasize performance only at one end of the scale.

Cyclist injuries and fatalities are a world-wide concern and often a consequence of interaction with cars. The MICA2 Project (Modelling of Interactions between Cyclists and Automobiles) is aimed at protecting bicyclists from getting injured by a passing car. This study addresses the need for new protective safety systems through the development and testing of a novel external car airbag. The airbag was designed to add protection to the center side part of the car, in the B-pillar area, to protect the head of a bicyclist impacting a car in this area. Two methods were used to evaluate performance of the system. For full system tests, a Hybrid III 50th percentile male dummy was seated on a city bike and projected into the side of a car at either 30°, 60° or 90° to the car side. In additional component tests an adult pedestrian headform was launched towards the roof rail or B-pillar structure of the car.