Skip to main content

Airbag technologies help mitigate occupant ejection

TRW Automotive Holdings has developed a range of curtain airbag technologies that the company claims help mitigate the risk of occupant ejection. According to Norbert Kagerer, vice president of TRW's Occupant Safety Systems business, the recent US legislation regarding occupant ejection mitigation underscores the importance of a number of airbag technologies designed to help keep occupants inside the vehicle. For example, TRW has developed one piece woven (OPW) curtain designs that include the unique X-T
April 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
601 TRW Automotive Holdings has developed a range of curtain airbag technologies that the company claims help mitigate the risk of occupant ejection.

According to Norbert Kagerer, vice president of TRW's Occupant Safety Systems business, the recent US legislation regarding occupant ejection mitigation underscores the importance of a number of airbag technologies designed to help keep occupants inside the vehicle. For example, TRW has developed one piece woven (OPW) curtain designs that include the unique X-Tether technology. Says Kagerer, “due to this advanced design approach the stiffness of the inflated bag cushion can be increased to mitigate the risk of occupant ejection. Based on TRW's X-Tether OPW cushion technology, the inflated chambers of side curtain airbags will be designed in a seamless way, allowing the curtain airbags to be easily tailored to specific vehicle geometries.

Other key enablers include technologies such as cold gas and hybrid inflators that when combined with advanced bag coatings can assist in keeping the curtain airbags inflated for several seconds.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    January 10, 2013
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • Smartphones smooth the journey for visually impaired
    May 13, 2016
    Moves to make life easier and safer for vulnerable and impaired road users are gaining strength on both sides of the Atlantic. A recent webcast by the US Roadway Safety Institute, based at the University of Minnesota, showcased work in progress on a positioning and mapping methodology using Bluetooth and smartphone technologies to support situation awareness and wayfinding for the visually impaired.
  • Virginia presses ahead with tunnels upgrade despite tolls challenge
    July 30, 2013
    David Crawford reviews current developments and legal/financial issues facing tunnel management in Virginia. This autumn the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US will defend its plan to introduce tolling on the Elizabeth River tunnels linking the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the State’s Hampton Roads area. The tolling, which is due to start from February 2014, will be examined by the State’s Supreme Court later this year. The anticipated toll income, along with loans and bonds, is
  • Autonomous vehicles, smart cities: moving beyond the hype
    February 21, 2018
    There is a lot of excited chatter about autonomous vehicles – but 2getthere’s Robbert Lohmann suggests we might need to take a step back and look realistically at what is achievable. You might be surprised that the chief commercial officer of a company delivering autonomous vehicles would begin an article with the suggestion that we need to get past the hype. And yet I do; because we have to, and urgently so. The hype prevents the development of autonomous vehicles that address actual transit needs. And