The future of mobility presents new challenges for occupant safety, combining active and passive safety technology to, for example, trigger airbags immediately before a crash. Protecting passengers in autonomous vehicles with new seating configurations is another area where restraint systems are undergoing modifications. At the same time, traditional passive safety systems are being designed to help improve weight, installation space and protection performance. At the ‘Airbag 2018’ symposium in Mannheim from November 26 to 28, ZF will present the current state of development as well as new solutions.
“Occupant safety is paramount when developing new vehicles for automated and autonomous driving,” says Dr. Michael Büchsner, Head of ZF’s Passive Safety Systems Division. “Our concept of the pre-crash external side airbag is a great example of how ZF wants to achieve its Vision Zero, a world without accidents and emissions.”
Designed to be deployed externally from the side of the vehicle, this airbag helps serve as an additional crumple zone in the event of an accident. Tests have shown it can help reduce the occupant injury severity up to 40 percent. ZF will present the current state of development of this external pre-crash system at the symposium, describing amongst other things the activation strategy and pole test requirements.
Well protected also in new seating positions
In addition to the ever-stronger connection of active and passive safety technologies, occupant safety must also be adapted to new seating positions. A vehicle travelling in highly automated mode would ideally allow the driver to relax or work. In the future, it will be possible to recline the seat or turn it to face other directions. Restraint systems like seatbelts and airbags must be designed to help protect the occupants in these flexible seating positions and will increasingly be integrated into the seat itself. Adaptive ‘dual contour’ airbags have been developed for this purpose. These airbags are designed to adapt to the occupant position and the new degree of freedom in the passenger compartment that automated driving has created.
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SOURCE: ZF
