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June 20, 2020 03:30 am

Acura Invents Airbag That Works Like a Catcher's Mitt

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Cars, trucks, and SUVs are safer today than they've ever been, but with 22,891 recorded U.S. passenger vehicle fatalities in 2018, it's obvious we still have some way to go. That's where today's invention comes in -- it's a new kind of airbag developed by Acura, designed to reduce brain injuries in front seat passengers. Instead of the single-chamber passenger airbag you probably have in the dash of your car, this one uses three individual chambers that work like a baseball catcher's mitt, allowing your head to decelerate more gently and without the kind of rotation that causes diffuse axonal injuries. [W]hen the airbag deploys, outboard chambers inflate, linked by a fabric "sail." Behind that sail and in between the two outboard chambers is a third, central chamber -- this is the one your face eventually decelerates into, although by the time that happens, it has already been slowed somewhat. The three work together to prevent the passenger's head and neck from twisting, which could otherwise end up moving them toward the centerline or the door of the car. Acura wouldn't tell me quite how much it cost to develop the new airbag. But it did explain that it was the product of several years and hundreds of tests, including sled tests, static tests with and without test dummies, and full-scale crash tests of the new Acura TLX, which will be the first model to feature this new airbag when it goes on sale this fall.

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