A worlds first, and going to be standard in all new V40s....
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Resources
Pedestrian airbag..
(9 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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Posted 12 years ago # -
or, a YouTube video with explanatory commentary..
Posted 12 years ago # -
Now I'm disappointed -
I thought the pedestrians were wearing the airbags!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I wonder how it detects a collision with a pedestrian? A normal airbag triggering system is presumably fairly easy (when the front of the car starts to crumple, deploy airbags...) how does the car notice that it's hit a pedestrian? (and not get triggered by, e.g. hitting a pheasant - or maybe it should be triggered for them too? :)
It seems odd that while one company is trying to reduce pedestrian fatalities, while the sale of 4x4s and 'SUVs' is increasing them:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000145750200129XPosted 12 years ago # -
Darn you beat me to it lol.
Interesting concept but i would echo lionfish in pondering what happens if you hit something else. How easy are airbags to deflate and put back?
On the other hand kudos to Volvo for a little bit of lateral thinking. I'm quietly impressed.Posted 12 years ago # -
I thought from reading about it a few years ago it worked of deformation of the bumper in a a localised spot. Presumably if one nailed a large enough bird it might also trigger, but if it was done with enough force to damage the bumper you'd be stopping anyway (one hopes).
Posted 12 years ago # -
Might use the parking sensors on the basis that something that close while moving is going to result in an inevitable collision.
Some Volos have automatic braking, presumably using automotive radar, so that's a possibility too (assuming the auto-brake works with pedestrians...)
Wish I hadn't just thought that the airbag might be to compensate for the higher number of pedestrians hit by volvos who's drivers come to rely on the auto-brake.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Unfortunately I think this particular system works by detecting a leg being broken by the bumper. However it is likely that the car will be stopping itself at that point already.
This is probably part of Volvo's zero fatality car (or whatever it's called) design program which is increasingly focused on incident avoidance rather than injury reduction by taking the driver out of the loop when a collision appears imminent. Many other manufactures are doing this sort of thing too - In fact Euro NCAP have added AEB to their 2014 requirements.
Not clear if AEB actually detects cyclists and pedestrians though...
Posted 12 years ago #
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