Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
03-11-09, 07:59 AM
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Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
Presumably for use on a vehicle with a two-passenger rear seat such as the Lexus IS F, here's the story from Autoblog:
Bag It Up: Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
by Sam Abuelsamid
Over the last several decades, automakers have made great strides in addressing safety issues, first for front seat occupants and more recently for those in the back. Three point seat-belts are now pretty much universal in the rear compartment, as are head restraints. Curtain airbags are also becoming standard issue in most cars to provide extra protection when the car is impacted from the side. But how do you protect the rear seat occupants from each other?
Toyota has devised a new center position rear air bag that deploys from a roof mounted console. The new bag deploys from the ceiling during a side impact to minimize injuries that can occur when occupants collide with each other. Presumably (hopefully!) this bag does not deploy if someone is actually occupying the center position in the rear. Toyota reports that this new bag will debut this year on a domestic market Toyota vehicle.
Now, if only the engineers could develop a parental deployable barrier that could separate bickering siblings from each other during a road trip, we'd really be talking. To view the official press release and original article:
Bag It Up: Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
Bag It Up: Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
by Sam Abuelsamid
Over the last several decades, automakers have made great strides in addressing safety issues, first for front seat occupants and more recently for those in the back. Three point seat-belts are now pretty much universal in the rear compartment, as are head restraints. Curtain airbags are also becoming standard issue in most cars to provide extra protection when the car is impacted from the side. But how do you protect the rear seat occupants from each other?
Toyota has devised a new center position rear air bag that deploys from a roof mounted console. The new bag deploys from the ceiling during a side impact to minimize injuries that can occur when occupants collide with each other. Presumably (hopefully!) this bag does not deploy if someone is actually occupying the center position in the rear. Toyota reports that this new bag will debut this year on a domestic market Toyota vehicle.
Now, if only the engineers could develop a parental deployable barrier that could separate bickering siblings from each other during a road trip, we'd really be talking. To view the official press release and original article:
Bag It Up: Toyota develops world's first center rear seat airbag
03-11-09, 10:34 AM
#7
... seriously?? If there are only two passengers in the back, I don't think an airbag between them is necessary. It adds weight and cost. I'm sure if you hit the other person's head or shoulder, it's not life-threatening as whatever is intruding into the passenger comparment from the side. The curtain airbag was a great idea. Now focus on making rear side airbags more widely available.
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03-11-09, 12:41 PM
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03-11-09, 01:57 PM
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Securefoam
03-11-09, 02:58 PM
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03-11-09, 08:01 PM
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i hope they're side impact only too lol
03-13-09, 04:45 PM
#15