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Ford Gives Rear Seat Passengers a Big Belt

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Ford tells rear seat passengers to blow me up as it gets set to introduce a new type of seat belt.

Charge of the inflatable rear seat belts

Airbags to the right of them, airbags to the left of them, airbags in the back seat! Last week Ford Motor Company announced that it would be bringing to market the auto industry’s first inflatable seat belts that bring together the attributes of a traditional seat belt and an air bag to provide a new level of safety protection to rear seat passengers.

Designed to reduce head, neck and chest injuries for rear seat passengers, the belts will first find their way to the next-generation Ford Explorer, which will go into production next year for the North American market.

Ford’s rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes,” said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering.  “This is another unique family technology that builds on our safety leadership, including the most top safety ratings of any automaker.”

According to Ford, more than 90 percent of those who tested the belts found them either similar to, or more comfortable than, traditional seat belts and Ford is hoping that this comfort factor will improve the current 61 percent usage in the U.S.

Sue Cischke

Sue Cischke

Not just for dummies

Here’s how the new belts will work: In the event of a frontal or side crash, vehicle sensors will determine the severity of the collision and deploy each individual belt’s air bag using a cold compressed gas (as opposed to a heat-generating chemical reaction used by traditional air bags) which reaches the bag via a specially-designed buckle from a cylinder that is housed below the rear seat.

As it fills with air, the accordion-folded bag breaks through the belt fabric and expands sideways across the bodies of rear-seat passengers in, according to Ford, the amount of time it takes a vehicle traveling at highway speeds to cover a yard of distance.

Once inflated, the belt will distribute and dissipate the energy associated with a crash across five times more of the occupant’s upper body, reducing the risk of injury while providing additional support to both the head and neck.

“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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