Starting this fall, all new planes will be required to have heartier seats that can withstand 16x gravity without popping out of place. Plus, they’ll be getting airbags in select areas.
We’ve already seen a version of this: Autoliv’s hood airbag system, but Toyota Gosei (an offshoot of, no prizes for etc etc, Toyota) has gone one better. As well as protecting the pedestrian from being squished like a bug on a windscreen, it has airbags down the side of the car, both front and back, protecting passengers from injury in the event of a nasty shunt from every which way in the car.
Autoliv’s new Pedestrian Protection System combines a hood that opens to cushion impact and a pair of hood mounted airbags to reduce the risk of serious injury when a car comes into contact with an unfortunate pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. The tech’s safety specs are impressive: “From almost certain death to less than a 15% risk of life-threatening injuries in a car-to-pedestrian impact at 40 km/h.” [Autoliv via Autoblog via Inventor Spot]
