Skip to main content

TRW introduces roof airbag technology

TRW Automotive Holdings has unveiled its new 'bag in roof' airbag system which replaces passenger airbags typically mounted in the instrument panel. The company claims the new airbag can help to mitigate passenger injuries and can allow for improved interior design aesthetics, ergonomics and functionality while saving space in the instrument panel. In addition, TRW claims this new design concept enhances development efficiency: by eliminating the need to package a passenger airbag in the instrument panel, t
April 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS601 TRW Automotive Holdings has unveiled its new 'bag in roof' airbag system which replaces passenger airbags typically mounted in the instrument panel. The company claims the new airbag can help to mitigate passenger injuries and can allow for improved interior design aesthetics, ergonomics and functionality while saving space in the instrument panel. In addition, TRW claims this new design concept enhances development efficiency: by eliminating the need to package a passenger airbag in the instrument panel, the bag in roof design can significantly reduce the development costs of the dashboard as there is no need to develop a specific 'door' that opens with the airbag deployment. It is also functionally compatible with a wide range of vehicle architectures.

The airbag unit comprises a cushion and a gas generator which supplies the gas to the cushion in the event of an impact. The product offers easy assembly with opportunities for standardisation as some of the components are common to all applications.
TRW has undertaken pre-development work for the bag in roof technology for several years, and over the previous two years in close collaboration with a major European vehicle manufacturer, resulting in the award of a significant production contract.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sprawl spreads the costs and confines the benefits
    June 8, 2015
    A new report says car-centric planning leads to inefficient cities and divided communities as lead author Todd Litman explains. Between 1950 and 2050 the human population will have approximately quadrupled and shifted from 80% rural to nearly 80% urban; by the middle of this century the United Nations predicts an additional 2.2 billion urban residents in developing countries than there are today. How these cities grow has huge economic, social and environmental impacts and implementing proper policies can c
  • Assessing driver behaviour in work zones
    May 31, 2013
    David Crawford looks at moves to increase throughput and safety in work zones.
  • Kapsch’s scalable tolling back office accepts mixed feeds
    September 15, 2014
    Arno Klamminger and Wolfgang Fleischer from Kapsch’s ETC Business Unit outline a new back office solution which addresses the ongoing changes in the road user charging sector. The rapidly increasing scale of some Road User Charging (RUC) schemes, both current and proposed, presents systems developers and manufacturers with significant opportunities in terms of product sales. However, it also presents them with significant challenges - and size is but one part – as at regional, national and international lev
  • Intermodal solutions the only viable, sustainable way forward
    February 6, 2012
    For the European Intermodal Association, intermodal solutions are the only viable, sustainable way forward for the global supply chain