Airbag for scooters from Honda (3 photos)

Honda Motor Co Ltd together with the company Autoliv, which manufactures safety systems for automakers, has created an airbag that is supposed to protect scooter drivers in a collision with a car. Thus Japanese avtokontsert hopes to reduce the number of victims of accidents involving motorcycles.

The deployment mechanism of the airbag similar to the same system at airbag cars. When the acceleration sensor built into the front of the motorcycle captures fatal collision, it activates a protective deployment of the product between the driver of a scooter and a car. Operation is performed for 0.04–0.05 seconds. In the experiment, in which the motorcycle with the dummy as the driver crashed into a parked car at a speed of 50 km/h (about 31mph), it was found that the airbag significantly reduces the impact on the head of the motorcyclist.

It should be noted that the present invention is more focused on protecting the driver of scooter in a collision with a car. In the event of such an accident, the body of the other vehicle will take on a support cushion that will contribute to the effective protection from the impact. If the motorcycle tips over after its driver trying to avoid a head-on collision or crash with a car, the efficiency of the airbags will fall sharply.

“In many sudden accidents with participation of scooters, the vehicle crashes into the side or rear of the vehicle. In this case, the developed airbag will contribute to the reduction of the number of victims,” said Honda.

Source: techon.nikkeibp.co.jp