Ford has filed a patent software for an exterior airbag that will deploy from behind a automobile’s grille throughout collisions.
Filed with the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Mar. 1, 2021, and printed Sept. 1, the appliance describes an airbag system just like those already mandated within the U.S. for automobile interiors as a supplemental restraint system (SRS) to guard occupants.
Ford exterior airbag system patent picture
Like standard airbags, the exterior airbag would use pyrotechnics to deploy and inflate, and could be triggered by sensors detecting a collision. On this case, although, the airbag could be mounted within the front-end construction of a automobile, deploying from behind the grille and protecting the vanguard of the hood.
Within the software, Ford stated this method may very well be utilized in most varieties of non-public passenger automobiles—together with vehicles, SUVs, crossovers, pickup vans, and minivans—in addition to taxis or buses. It is also utilized in autonomous automobiles, in accordance with Ford.
Ford exterior airbag system patent picture
Ford is not the one firm to experiment with exterior airbags. In 2019, German auto provider ZF confirmed a prototype exterior airbag system for side-impact crashes. Designed to supply an extra crumple zone to assist take in the vitality of impacts, the exterior airbag might cut back damage severity by 40%, ZF stated on the time.
Whereas ZF appeared pretty assured in its tech, claiming software program and sensors might deploy the exterior airbag in simply 100 milliseconds and have it absolutely inflated earlier than contact with any objects or different automobiles, the corporate hasn’t put it into manufacturing but. Maybe Ford may have higher luck with its forward-deploying model of this tech.
