Ford develops inflatable seat belts to reduce crash injuries to rear-seat passengers

November 5, 4:44 PMNY Autos ExaminerNick Yost

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  Ford's inflatable seat belt                        Photo courtesy of Ford

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov.5 – Ford has developed the world’s first inflatable seat belts for rear-seat passengers and plans to begin installing them in its vehicles next year.

Sue Cischke, a vice president of environmental and safety engineering, said today that the “inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes.”

The restraint system is designed to reduce head, neck and chest injuries. Its first use will be in the next-generation Ford Explorer.

When safety sensors detect a frontal or side-impact crash is sufficiently severe, the belt’s accordion-folded bag breaks through the belt fabric and inflates over the torso and shoulder in about the same amount of time it takes a car traveling at highway speed to advance one yard.

The inflated belt holds the passenger more securely in place, helping to reduce the chance of injury.

Each belt’s tubular air bag inflates with cold compressed gas, which flows through a specially designed buckle from a cylinder housed below the seat.

Because the system uses cold compressed air instead of the heat-generated gas that fills a traditional air bag, the belt wearer experiences no increase in temperature in the area of the bag. The belts also fill more slowly than an airbag because they do not need to cover any distance to reach the passenger.

In normal use, the belts operate like conventional seat belts and are compatible with children’s safety and booster seats. Ford says more than 90 percent of the people who tested the seat belts have found them to be as comfortable or more comfortable than conventional seat belts.

“It’s a very simple and logical system, but it required extensive trial and error and testing over several years to prove out the technology and ensure precise reliable performance in a crash situation,” said Srini Sundararajan, safety technical leader for Ford research and advance engineering.

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