On Thursday, Ford declared that it will produce an automobile with inflatable seat belts. It would be the world’s first automobile with this technology. This technology was originally designed almost a decade ago in a conceptual form. But Ford would be the first automotive company to install this concept in its vehicles. The Ford Explorer would be the first vehicle that would be equipped with this system. It would be available in the market by the year 2011.

The inflatable seat belts have been designed to safeguard the passengers in the rear seats. As these passengers lack the protection cover of the full scale airbags, they are prone to get seriously affected if the vehicle gets hit or any other similar mishap occurs. Initially, they would be used for the rear seats only, but it is possible that it might be used to protect the passengers sitting at the front also, after some period of time. Though no such declaration has been made as of now by Ford.

The inflatable seat belts help in protecting the torso and also help in controlling and avoiding head trajectory in case an accident happens. The full scale airbags have a bigger and better surface area that savors the impact of the collision five times better in comparison with the regular belts. This means that it has more power to absorb the shocks produced by the collision and keeps you safe and secure. The regular belts restrain you all of a sudden and prove less futile in shock absorption.

The technology aims at improving the safety and security of the rear seat passengers in a vehicle. Ford Group’s Vice President of Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Sue Cischke, has said that, “Ford’s rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance the safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes.”

In previous market surveys, it was found that people preferred the inflatable seat belt system more than the regular seat belt system as it offered more comfort due to its rounded-shape and padding. They liked it more than what they were using. Ford expressed its hope based on these reviews that this will definitely attract more number of people to buy their vehicles. The rear seat passengers would certainly feel more comfortable using these technology belts.

Srini Sundararajan, who is a technical expert at Ford research and advance engineering, has said that though it was quite easy to make these belts, but still it took years of trials and testing to make the best technology belts that offer complete safety and reliability to the users.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.