Airbelts next safety step

Car safety is about to move forward again with a new airbag development.  Seatbelts are the new target for cushioned protection in a crash, with Ford and Toyota racing to get the first production models on the road.

Ford is expected to be first into showrooms with the upcoming Explorer SUV for the USA, with Toyota to follow in 2011 with the Lexus LFA supercar.  There is no confirmation yet of any airbag belts for Australia, although Toyota admits the design developed for its $750,000 supercar will be migrated through the whole of the company.

"We don't know where or when, but in true Lexus fashion it will be 'trickle-down' technology," says Toyota spokesman, Mike Breen.  Lexus revealed a pyrotechnic seatbelt last year at the press preview of the LFA in Germany. There was no great fanfare despite its importance, with Lexus actually underplaying the development.

"We don't want to say too much yet because the car does not go into production until 2011. Someone else could beat us to be first with this development," says the chief engineer of the LFA, Haruhiko Tanahashi.  He was right, with Ford announcing soon after that it had developed an inflatable airbag for use in the Explorer.

The two systems are very different, with Lexus choosing to continue with a pyrotechnic device to create the gas for the bag - with a linked electrical connection built into the belt buckle - and Ford going with a cold compressed gas.  The Ford bag inflates in 40 seconds but, because of the way it is used and because it is strapped against an occupant, the firing is relatively slow and much less violent than a conventional airbag.

More detail on the Ford system is expected soon but there is no confirmation of its use in anything beyond the Explorer.  "We are looking at other vehicles. But there have been no decisions or announcements yet," says Sinead McAlary, spokesperson for Ford Australia.