Volvo V40 Pedestrian Airbag Technology

Volvo Car Corporation has again pioneered a life saving technology and this time, it will be available on one of its mainstream cars. The Pedestrian Airbag Technology will debut in the Volvo V40.

According to the manufacturer, a quarter of all traffic fatalities in China involved pedestrians. In Europe, 14% of pedestrians are killed every year, while in the US, the figure is 12%. These are above and beyond a far larger number of pedestrians that are injured from being hit by a car. Based on research by Volvo, the cause of a large majority of serious head injuries resulted from pedestrians hitting the hard structure under the bonnet, the windscreen’s lower edge and the A-pillars.

The pedestrian airbag technology utilises seven sensors embedded in the front of the car to detect the human leg. If contact has been made, the control unit will deploy the airbag and pops the bonnet by 10cm.

It is a combination of this extra space between the bonnet and the hard components in the engine compartment, and the airbag that Volvo believes will save lives.

“The airbag has two functions. Firstly, it raises the bonnet to create distance, and secondly it cushions the impact around the hard parts of the area near the windscreen,” explains Thomas Broberg, Senior Technical Advisor Safety at Volvo.

When inflated, the pedestrian airbag will cover the entire windscreen wiper recess, about 1/3 of the windscreen, and the lower part of the A-pillars. The entire sequence, from activation of the system to full inflation, takes just a few hundredths of a second.

According to research data, 75% of all accidents involving pedestrians take place at speeds of up to 40km/h. Volvo’s Pedestrian Airbag System is active at speeds between 20 and 50km/h.

Click on the video below for an explanation of how the technology works.