Ford has filed a patent utility for an exterior airbag that will deploy from behind a automobile’s grille throughout collisions.
Filed with america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Mar. 1, 2021, and printed Sept. 1, the applying describes an airbag system just like those already mandated within the U.S. for automobile interiors as a supplemental restraint system (SRS) to guard occupants.
Ford exterior airbag system patent picture
Like standard airbags, the exterior airbag would use pyrotechnics to deploy and inflate, and could be triggered by sensors detecting a collision. On this case, although, the airbag could be mounted within the front-end construction of a automobile, deploying from behind the grille and overlaying the forefront of the hood.
Within the utility, Ford mentioned this method might be utilized in most forms of non-public passenger autos—together with vehicles, SUVs, crossovers, pickup vehicles, and minivans—in addition to taxis or buses. It is also utilized in autonomous autos, in keeping with Ford.
Ford exterior airbag system patent picture
Ford is not the one firm to experiment with exterior airbags. In 2019, German auto provider ZF confirmed a prototype exterior airbag system for side-impact crashes. Designed to offer a further crumple zone to assist take up the vitality of impacts, the exterior airbag might cut back damage severity by 40%, ZF mentioned on the time.
Whereas ZF appeared pretty assured in its tech, claiming software program and sensors might deploy the exterior airbag in simply 100 milliseconds and have it totally inflated earlier than contact with any objects or different autos, the corporate hasn’t put it into manufacturing but. Maybe Ford can have higher luck with its forward-deploying model of this tech.