The Netherlands is one of the safest countries in the world, but even there in 2012 more than 18 thousand people were injured in road accidents, and 274 of them died. Here, in order to at least slightly lower these statistics, TNO company and developed airbags, which are located from the outside of the car.
In recent years, several companies have already presented to the public their developments on installing airbags on the outside of the car. Examples include the iSAVE YOU or Easpace technology. But all of them are designed to protect the cars themselves from the consequences of a collision. But TNO has found a way to protect the pedestrian!
Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, TNO has developed an airbag that is located under the hood of a car and is deployed when the car collides with a pedestrian or cyclist.
Usually, in such cases, a pedestrian falls on the windshield of a car, injuring himself and the person inside. But the opened airbag can in this case protect both the downed person and the driver.
True, crash tests conducted by TNO show that 100 percent of such an airbag is triggered only when the car is moving at a speed not exceeding 25 kilometers per hour. And with an increase in this indicator to 40 km / h, a pedestrian who gets on the hood can already damage the windshield of the car with the weight of his body, and he himself is badly hurt or even broken some bones.
So far, there is no question of launching the development of TNO - the technology still needs to be significantly improved. But there is no doubt that cars equipped with airbags for pedestrians will one day appear!