When you speak about safety in the automotive industry, you are almost always speaking of Volvo, as they have made a name for themselves from safety.
We are not talking just about the safety of the car occupants, but that of pedestrians as well.
After pioneering a hood airbag to cushion the impact of a (God forbid) person if a Volvo ever hits one, it seems that the Sweeds are going to be upstaged by another company. TRW Automotive has just started development on airbags that are designed to pop on the lateral exterior of cars.
Funded by the European Union, this might be the next big thing in safety on the roads, maybe even a mandatory feature in the future. We’ll see how the industry will react to this new feature, and if they will even adopt such technology, as the situations in which a car would impact a pedestrian sideways are not that often encountered.
