It’s curtains for automotive safety. Curtains.
And though there’s a bit of a skirmish developing among automakers claiming to be “first” in offering such advanced air bags to protect heads and upper bodies in collisions, customers are most likely to be declared the winners.
Though Volvo was the first to offer side-impact air bags, BMW says it was the first to feature side air bags specifically for head protection.
The German automaker had standard front Head Protection Systems in its 5- and 7-Series sedans in 1998. For 1999, it extends the system to its popular 3-Series.
“It will be standard on all four-door 3-Series sedans,” said BMW spokesman Wieland Bruch. “Also new for 1999 will be front-door-mounted side air bags for all models, including our (Z-3) Roadster and the new Z3 coupe. We will have rear side air bags available in all four-door sedans. They are optional, and we do not recommend them for families using rear child seats.”
Bruch said BMW’s front air bags, with dual-threshold deployment, are smart enough to tell whether the passenger seat is occupied and whether driver and passenger are belted. If they are not belted, the bags deploy at a different speed so as not to injure the persons. If the passenger seat is not occupied, that air bag will not deploy, saving the car’s owner the added expense of replacing it.
Mercedes-Benz says that when its 1999 E-Class sedans started arriving at dealerships the end of August, it was the first automaker to offer standard curtain-like side air bags that span the sides of the passenger compartment. Volvo will have inflatable side curtains on its all-new S80 sedans when it arrives in October, but the ’99 Mercedes E-Class is already on market.
“Working with existing door-mounted side air bags, the new curtain air bag is the only system that can prevent both front and rear occupants from hitting their heads on the side window or roof pillars in a severe side collision,” said Mercedes spokesman Fred Heiler.
The Mercedes curtain is more than six feet long, 14 inches deep and about two inches thick. It deploys from the headliner immediately above the side windows.
Mercedes says its research indicates its door-mounted side bags, which have been offered in certain models in 1996, have kept chest injuries from side impacts from being as devastating as they would have been without side protection. Severe and sometimes fatal head injuries in side collisions are due to objects intruding into the interior or the whiplash movement of the head toward the window. The curtain can reduce the force of a side impact by up to 90 percent, says Mercedes.
Volvo’s Inflatable Curtain, like some of the other head protection systems, is in the headliner. It extends from the A pillar to the C pillar (from the windshield to the rear window) and the entire curtain inflates–in about 25 milliseconds–after certain types of side impact.
“It doesn’t have to be a right-angle impact,” said Volvo safety engineer Martin Rapaport. “Sensors measure vehicle acceleration, velocity and other factors. They make a decision to deploy in 5 to 10 milliseconds.”
It’s not a single number–like a 15 m.p.h. side impact–but a combination of factors that trigger deployment, he said. The force of its deployment is rapid but “benign,” he said. “This is its first year, so we don’t refer to it as depowered compared with an earlier bag.”
The curtain is a sealed bag filled with non-toxic, inert gases. Unlike front air bags, it stays inflated, he said, to protect passengers in case of multiple impacts and to keep them from being thrown through an open window.
Mercedes also has a front air-bag system with brains. Its BabySmart detects a child seat in the front seat and deactivates the passenger air bag.
However, this system requires a special BabySmart child restraint, available from Mercedes dealers. BMW also is moving toward an air-bag system that can sense when a passenger is out of position, said Bruch.
The 1999 Mercury Cougar, introduced earlier this year, features front-seat-mounted head-chest air bags. Ford spokeswoman Lynda Lambert said these bags will be on the 2000 Lincoln LS and will become more widely available in succeeding model years. Because they are installed in the seat rather than above the door as with other automakers’ offerings, Ford believes these head-chest bags are more likely to be effective if a passenger is out of the proper seating position. The head-chest bags are designed to inflate in about 13 milliseconds.
Beginning with the January 1999 production of the QX4, all new Infiniti vehicles will have front-seat side-impact air bags as standard, said Nissan.
The Q45 and I30 sedans have had them for the last two years, and the new 1999 G20 bows with one, said Nissan.
THE BETTER TO SEE AND STEER WITH
Controversy aside, air bags have won the confidence of most automakers to the extent that they are being installed throughout cars–in instrument panels, seats, door panels and overhead.
But bags, which protect passengers in crashes, aren’t the whole safety story.
Features such as anti-lock brakes to control skidding, cruise control that adjusts itself to keep vehicles a safe distance apart and satellite-based communication systems that can perform engine diagnostics are among active safety systems to keep the driver from losing control and/or being involved in a collision.
A sampling:
– General Motors Corp.’s OnStar mobile emergency and navigation system now can perform some technical diagnostics. The dealer-installed option monitors engine functions and relays this information to a control office, which informs the driver by cellular phone, of potential problems. It’s available on several GM models.
– Last summer, Saab announced its wider-vision rearview mirror. This wide-angle passenger-side outside mirror increases the driver’s right-side field of vision. On all Saab’s new 9-5 and 9-3 models, the mirror, with a gradually increasing curvature, increases the field of view by 30 percent over a conventional convex mirror of the same size, said Saab. If the width of vision to the right at the immediate rear of the car with a conventional mirror was six feet, with the new Saab mirror it is increased to close to eight feet.
– Ford will offer for the first time in 1999 Reverse Aid. Available for $245 on Windstar and Explorer models, the back-up warning system relies on sonar technology. Detectors in the rear bumper send signals that produce beeps. As the rear bumper approaches an object– fence, wall or bicycle, for example, the system beeps.
– BMW is adding its similar device, Park Distance Control, to its new 3-Series sedans. It has been available on more expensive models for a few years
– Dynamic Stability Control, which helps the driver maintain control in sideways skids, becomes standard on the 1999 540i; it is optional for 528 and 328 four-door sedans for 1999, said BMW spokesman Wieland Bruch.
– Dynamic Brake Control senses emergency braking and increases brake pressure. It will be standard on BMW 7-Series sedans and on the 540i, optional on 528i and on 328I four-door sedans.
– Honda’s Acura luxury line will feature high-intensity discharge headlights on the 1999 Acura TL and 3.5 RL. They light the road 60 feet farther than halogen low-beams. Their light covers a 40-percent larger “patch” than the older lights.
– Cautioning that he didn’t want to overpromise, Mercedes-Benz spokesman Fred Heiler said an intelligent cruise control system, which automatically maintains a certain distance between your car and others on the road, may be available on the company’s next-generation S-Class sedans, due out in the second quarter of 1999 as 2000 models.
– Lexus ES, LS and GS sedans pick up daytime running lights for 1999. It is new to Lexus, said John McCandless, spokesman for Toyota, Lexus’ parent, in Detroit. “The ’99 LS400 also will feature driver- and passenger side mirrors that tilt down when the car is in reverse,” he said. Tilt-down mirrors, to see whether anything is near the vehicle when it’s in reverse, were introduced on the 1998 GS400/300 last fall.
– The ’98 GS400/300 also introduced Vehicle Skid Control, which uses the ABS to keep the car from experiencing oversteer, understeer or fishtailing. This feature is extended this year to the flagship LS400.
– Buick is adding tire inflation monitors as standard on Regal LS and Century. Buick introduced it last year on Regal GS as standard equipment. (The Chevrolet Corvette already had this, along with run-flat tires.)
– The new Volvo S80 will feature WHIPS. In this whiplash protection system the backrest and head restraint on the seat shift backwards along with the occupant in rear-end collisions, reducing the recoil as the body responds to the energy of the collision.
– Cadillac has announced its 2000 DeVille will feature night vision, which uses an infrared sensor behind the car’s grille to detect the thermal energy of people, animals or moving vehicles not in the car’s headlights. The image is projected onto a black-and-white heads-up display on the windshield in front of the driver. Cadillac said the system provides a view 3 to 5 times farther than what a driver sees with low beams and 3 times greater than with some high beams. This translates to up to 500 yards at low beam, said Dave Roman, Cadillac spokesman.
