Latest in car safety: airbags on the outside

Published on Saturday 14 June 2008 19:42

THE lives of hundreds of pedestrians are set to be saved each year in the UK after a major car firm revealed it is close to perfecting exterior airbags.

A Toyota subsidiary is fine-tuning a system which, in the event of a collision with a pedestrian, deploys airbags at the front of the bonnet and just below the windscreen.

The system uses sensors linked to a computer system which constantly scans the road ahead and calculates if and when the car is about to hit a pedestrian. In the split seconds before an accident, the airbags burst open to cushion the impact.

In the UK alone, 675 pedestrians are killed each year in accidents in which they are struck by cars and another 6,375 are seriously injured.

The airbag system has been developed by the Nagoya-based Toyoda Gosei. The company designs and makes airbags and other safety equipment for a range of car manufacturers around the world.

The designs were recently exhibited at a motor show in Japan. The system uses a combination of radar and infra-red sensors. The radar scans the road hundreds of metres ahead for anything that could be a pedestrian. The infra red detector looks for signs of body heat from the object.

The front airbag is designed to reduce waist injuries in adults and head injuries in children. The upper air bag should reduce head injuries from pedestrians being flung forward on to the windscreen.

When the bonnet airbag deploys, it covers the entire width of the car and the bottom two-thirds of the windscreen as well as the upper quarter of the bonnet. The bag also protects the pedestrian from being hurt by the windscreen wipers.

The airbags are designed to rapidly deflate after any incident to reduce the "bouncy castle effect" in which pedestrians could be catapulted back on to the road or into the path of other vehicles.

Experts are now working through millions of calculations for thousands of cars so they can make sure that the airbags go off at the right time, depending on the model of car.

A spokesman for the company told a Japanese technology news service he was unable to say when the firm expected to start production.

He said: "We have almost completed the development of the pedestrian protection airbags. We are now calculating the precise timing to set off the airbags. If the timing is wrong, the airbags cannot protect pedestrians."

The experts hope that the combination of the sensors and computer technology will help them overcome the problems which have dogged the concept of outside airbags: how to tell the difference between hitting a person and hitting an inanimate object, and how to tell that an impact is about to happen.

No pricing information was available directly from the company. But motor industry reports have suggested that the sensor system would cost about 150 and the airbags something in the region of 200.

The technology has been given a cautious welcome by motoring organisations.

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists' Motoring Trust, said: "It's a very good idea.

However, this kind of thing is unlikely to become widespread unless the Government makes it compulsory.

"If you're in a showroom and you have the option of spending 500 on a fancy new sound system or spending it on a system to protect pedestrians, most drivers will go for the sound system."

David Evans from Which? Car said: "Anything that improves the chances of occupants and pedestrians in crashes should be encouraged.

"But there needs to be evidence of the benefits, rather than loading up a car with gadgets as a means of creating the impression of improved safety."

A spokeswoman for the RAC Foundation said: "It's great news that vehicle manufacturers are thinking not only about looking to protect the occupants but also people outside the vehicles."

Toyoda Gosei had no-one available for comment when they were contacted by Scotland on Sunday.