Hyundai Motor Group has announced a new airbag technology for the automobile industry. Dubbed as a ‘Centre side Airbag’, this additional piece is expected to keep occupants safer in times of a collision / accident. This airbag has been developed to keep a safe space between the front passenger and driver, and avoid any sort of impact between them. Hyundai will roll out this new additional airbag in their upcoming cars as soon as this piece is ready to roll out.
The new centre side airbag between the driver and passenger is expected to avoid any kind of head injuries in the front row. If there is no front passenger in the car, this centre side airbag will protect the driver additionally from a side impact. This additional airbag has been positioned inside the driver seat of the car and deploys only when the crash sensor detects impact.
Hyundai claims that with this additional centre side airbag, head injuries caused by collision of the front occupants can be reduced by around 80%. That is a big number especially when it comes to safety. Also, it is said that secondary damage caused during any collision from hitting interior components is around 45%; this can also be avoided with the new centre side airbag.
Hyundai has filed a patent for this new airbag technology as it is light in weight and compact in size when it comes to the overall module.
The airbag tether which is an internal component maintains the form of the airbag and also holds on with the passenger weight. This airbag is nearly 500g lighter than competing and similar concepts. With the compact size of this airbag components, Hyundai claims that it gives them flexibility to design their seats and think of future options.
Euro NCAP is expected to include side impact on occupants from 2020, and this new centre side airbag will work in the favour of all cars from the Hyundai Group (including Kia). So far, the Hyundai Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe & NEXO have been awarded 5-star overall safety rating by the NHTSA, and this additional safety will only make things better.
