The development and testing of the new airbag was led by engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. in Ohio in partnership with Autoliv
Jim Keller, President of Honda R&D Americas, Inc, said, “This new airbag technology represents Honda’s continuing effort to advance safety performance in a wider variety of crash scenarios and reflects the innovative thinking that our engineers are bringing to the challenge of reducing traffic injuries and fatalities.”
Unlike conventional airbag systems that rely on a single inflatable compartment, the new system utilises four major components: three inflated compartments – a center chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash – along with a sail panel that stretches between the two side chambers at their outermost edge. Operating something like a baseball catcher’s mitt, the sail panel catches and decelerates the occupant’s head while also engaging the side chambers, pulling them inward to cradle and protect the head, mitigating the potential for injury.
It is particularly beneficial in angled frontal impacts in which lateral collision forces can cause an occupant’s head
Honda also is working to develop and deploy advanced passive safety and active safety systems that can reduce the severity of a collision or help avoid it entirely. In addition to passive safety systems such as airbags, seatbelts and advanced crash safety structures like the company’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, Honda is aggressively deploying its Honda Sensing and AcuraWatch suites of safety and driver-assistive systems. The company has committed to making this broad suite of technologies standard on nearly all of its vehicles by 2022.