One of the most important aspects of a vehicle is safety. The automotive industry has placed safety as a central axis in the design and development of its vehicles, recognizing its importance for drivers, passengers and pedestrians. With constant technological advances, from driver assistance systems to body structures designed to absorb impacts, manufacturers strive to offer maximum protection in all circumstances.
Airbags, which were initially exclusive to some premium brand manufacturers, have today become a standard passive safety item that is part of the mandatory feature package in many vehicles. These devices, composed of a resistant and flexible fabric bag that fills with air or gas at high speed when activated, cushion the impact and reduce the risk of serious injuries to the head, chest and torso of the vehicle’s occupants.
Community regulations establish that, since 2006, all new vehicles sold in the European Union must have frontal airbags for the driver and front passenger. It is also common for cars to equip side airbags. They are usually located on the side of the seats and their function is to protect passengers in the event of a collision on the side of the vehicle.
The family of airbags is completed with curtain airbags – located above the windows to protect the head in case the vehicle rolls over in an accident – and four other not so common airbags: knee, belt , rear and pedestrian.
The pedestrian airbag is a rarity since it is a passive safety system that very few cars are equipped with. Volvo, a pioneer with the seat belt, was also a pioneer with the implementation of the pedestrian airbag in one of its models, the Volvo V40, a compact model that it stopped manufacturing at the beginning of the current decade.
The V40’s pedestrian airbag is installed under the hood of the car next to the windshield. In certain frontal collisions with a pedestrian, sensors placed in the front bumper react and the airbag deploys if it calculates that the force of the impact is large enough. The sensors are activated at speeds of 20-50 km/h and at an ambient temperature between -20 and 70 ºC.
According to Volvo, the sensors are designed to detect a collision with an object with characteristics similar to a person’s legs. In this way the cushion does not deploy upon impact with an object.
A few years after Volvo implemented this airbag in the compact that it has already stopped manufacturing, it is now a Chinese company that has landed in the European market presenting this innovative proposal. Omoda, a brand belonging to automobile giant Chery, announces that the Omoda 5 will continue the tradition of prioritizing safety by introducing a pedestrian airbag.
On its website, Omoda details that the SUV is equipped with four types of airbags – front, side, curtain and pedestrian – to provide comprehensive protection to both the driver and the vehicle’s occupants as well as pedestrians in the event of a frontal collision.
Regarding pedestrian airbags, the Asian company highlights that this special safety system is designed to deploy quickly in the event of an impact with a pedestrian and thus significantly reduce the severity of injuries.
In the exhaustive Euro NCAP safety tests, the Chinese company’s SUV has achieved the maximum score of 5 stars. The European consortium highlights the solid protection provided to adult (87%) and child (87%) occupants, as well as the effectiveness of the assistance systems (88%). Paradoxically, the lowest rating is attributed to the pedestrian protection section (68%).
This decrease in the score is due to the specific configuration of the vehicle, which, due to its more square proportions, presents greater difficulties compared to cars that have more rounded designs, according to the measurement criteria established by Euro NCAP.
