Like many other component suppliers and car manufacturers, Ford in the US is developing a safety system that adapts according to the occupants’ size and location in an effort to cut down on seat belt and airbag-related injuries.
Like many other component suppliers and car manufacturers, Ford in the US is developing safety system that adapts according to the occupants’ size and location in an effort to cut down on seat belt and airbag-related injuries.
This addition takes Ford’s current Personal Safety System even further. At the moment it has sensors that determine where the front passenger and driver are seated in relation to the dashboard and will then deploy higher- or lower-outage airbags.
Instead of just two levels of air bag output, it would alter the size and intensity of the deploying bag, by using adaptive venting to modulate the amount of air in the bag.
The airbags would deploy according to what various sensors told them. Those sensors include the seat-track sensor and an advanced weight-sensing system in the seats. Jaguar, one of Ford’s European subsidiaries, already advertises a similar system.
"We’re still looking in terms of more input, more indication of the stature, size, and how far these people (are) sitting during a crash," said Rouaa Nakhleh, manager of passive safety technology.
"We needed to understand the crash severity, what type of accident it was, so we can tailor the deployment and possibly have a couple stages of the air bag of itself," Sue Cishke, Ford vice president, said. "Someday we’d like to know if they were old or young, ’cause all those things do matter," she said.
A weight-sensing system has already been installed in 2002 Ford Windstars, and measures whether the person is a child or an adult.
The Personal Safety System will be available on new models. The more advanced systems will be available starting in 2005.
