Autoliv Recognized for Innovation Excellence
(Stockholm, October 18, 2006) – – – Autoliv’s new Safety-Vent Airbag was recently recognized by the Automotive News as a finalist in the prestigious 13th annual PACE award competition for innovation excellence. The new technology could generate significant savings for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) throughout the whole automotive industry over the next several years, in addition to reducing the risk of injuries for occupants positioned too close to a deploying front-seat passenger airbag.
This new technology was launched recently in North America with Daimler Chrysler, and OEM’s have already signed up for more than 20 programs utilizing the technology. “We are very excited about this product evolution. Whenever we can provide improved occupant protection while reducing the overall vehicle cost to our customers, it is a win-win for the consumer and of course our customers”, said Steve Fredin, Group Vice President of Engineering.
The PACE Award (for Premier Automotive Suppliers’ Contributions to Excellence) honors automotive industry suppliers who have embraced innovation and adapted and reinvented themselves to keep abreast of the constantly rising performance bar of the OEM/customer, and rising expectations of consumers. The award is accepted around the world as the industry symbol of innovation. Over the next several months, along with other award finalists, Autoliv will undergo an extensive review process by industry, academic and business leaders to select award winners, to be announced during the 2007 Society of Automotive Engineers conference in Detroit on April 16.
Product Description (Please refer to attached illustration)
The new Safety-Vent airbag technology is designed to address the risk associated with airbags. Although airbags save thousands of lives every year, they could be dangerous for children, small females and other occupants in the front passenger seat who are “Out of Position” (“OOP”), i.e. sitting too close to a deploying airbag.
So far, many OEM’s have installed occupant sensors to suppress the airbag deployment for OOP conditions. This is one of the solutions the U.S. safety regulation (i.e. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS, 208) prescribes. Occupant sensing technology reduces the risk of injury for children, however, they are expensive, complicated to install in the seat and have unproven reliability. In addition, most occupant sensors do not address the risk for an adult who is sitting too close to the deploying passenger airbag (for instance, a small female) or an adult who is leaning forward (when searching the glove compartment, for instance) or an unbelted occupant who is hurled forward in a panic-braking situation before a crash.
To address these concerns, Autoliv developed this airbag technology which has Safety Vents that perform automatically. If the occupant is at a safe distance to the airbag, two straps inside the bag will be stretched and close the additional Safety Vents like a drawstring on a laundry bag. However, if the occupant is too close to the deploying airbag, the Safety Vents on the sides of the bag will remain open to prevent the bag from being inflated, thereby providing a gentle deployment.
For complete details of the 2007 Automotive News PACE Award visit http://www.autonews.com/PACE
Inquiries:
Steve Fredin, Vice President Group Engineering Autoliv Inc., Phone +46 8 587 20679
For high-resolution pictures contact info@autoliv.com
