The Most Significant Advance in Car Safety Since the Airbag

PATEV Associates has announced today the start of the innovation program “Better Airbags”, the first adaptive airbag with a so-called cold gas generator which is not based on explosives that ignite airbags today.

Airbag technology has seen little innovation in 30 years

The fundamental technology behind an airbag has changed little over the past 30 years. The airbag inflation is still caused by a pyrotechnic explosion which may cause aural trauma and body injuries. But the biggest drawback remains that an airbag can only be inflated once even in a multi-impact accident or a rollover and that the amount of generated air is independent of the passenger load and other crucial characteristics of the accident.

“The automotive industry has been looking for a way to control and adapt the airbag inflation technology for many years“ says Martin Haege, expert in the “Better Airbags” technology. The Swiss-based engineering firm MBB International Group AG has developed and patented this new technology that uses a high-speed valve instead of pyrotechnics to control the outflow of the air into the airbag. The potential of this invention is huge. “It was designed to take the current airbag technology to the next level and remove its major shortcomings” says the MBB spokesperson.

The adaptive airbag increases passenger safety

For automotive manufacturers this means that the volume and air flow of an airbag can be adapted to the passenger load and even activated more than once in the case of a multi-impact accident. In addition, each activity of the airbag system can be permanently logged and recorded in a black box comparable to the devices in airplanes. This allows the objective clarification of facts after accidents and thus proves the correct functioning of automotive parts. In light of substantial product liability damages awarded by courts in North America this feature becomes more and more relevant.

Lower production and logistics costs with valve-based airbag systems

For the automotive suppliers of airbag technology, the advantages can be just as significant. As the use of explosives for the airbag ignition in manufacturing and logistics is highly regulated, a valve system would allow major economies of scale and flexibility for international capacity planning resulting in lower costs in many areas.

Passengers are even better protected

Drivers and passengers would run a lower risk of injury or aural trauma after an airbag explosion and suffer no carbon monoxide pollution in the vehicle interior. But most of all, they would enjoy a higher level of security through an improved airbag system which is adapted to the real-time passenger load and accident type.

After perfoming numerous tests and simulations, the new technology codenamed “Better Airbags” is currently discussed with global airbag technology suppliers and car manufacturers. A communication platform has been set up at www.better-airbags.com.

“Following the legal requirement for seatbelts in the 1970es and the widespread adaptation of airbags in 1990, we believe that the “Better Airbags” technology will have a similar impact on advances in driver safety” confirms Markus Ziegler, Partner at PATEV Associates. “300 million airbags have been sold in 2011. This new technology will make them even better.”

PATEV Associates GmbH is a European consulting company for IP management services based in Germany. Initiated in 2009 by Edelbert Haefele, PATEV formed the IPT Alliance – a pan-European network of IP practitioners - together with Avenium Consulting in France and ICM Advisors in Italy.

PATEV Associates GmbH, Markus Ziegler
Albert-Einstein-Str. 62 a, 76228 Karlsruhe, Germany
Phone: +49 178 5656 444, email: markus.ziegler@patev.de
Internet: www.better-airbags.com

This release was published on openPR.