Hyundai Mobis has developed world’s first ‘panorama sunroof airbag’ system that reacts in just 0.08 second when a car is overturned.
Hyundai Mobis (President Lim Young-deuk) announced on the 18th that it has developed world’s first panorama sunroof airbag that prevents passengers from being thrown out out of a sunroof during a car accident. It already finished doing actual field tests and verifying reliability of heat-resisting function and vibration-resisting functionand has secured level of technology that will allow Hyundai Mobis to mass-produce this airbag. Hyundai Mobis applied for total of 11 patents during the development process and has secured technical excellence.
After Hyundai Mobis first started mass-producing airbags in 2002, it introduced variety of high-tech airbags such as 4th generation advanced airbags and airbags between passengers.
According to statistics recorded by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA) on number of cars that were flipped over during car accidents that had occurred from 2000 to 2015, about 260 people were thrown out of sunroofs. If a body of a passenger is thrown out of a sunroof without any protective devices such as airbags, he or she can suffer a serious injury to his or her head and near areas.
Panorama sunroof airbag prevents passengers from being thrown out of a runoff and reduces injuries.
During its actual field tests that used a dummy, it was able to see that panorama sunroof airbags prevented passengers from being thrown out when they were spread out and eased amount of impact that is exerted on a head.
Panorama sunroof airbag is equipped within a sunroof and is spread out from the back of a car to the front. It is similar to a curtain airbag that is spread out along side of windows of a car when it is struck by another car on its side. If there is a change to an angle of rotation of a car when a car is flipped over, a sensor detects this change and has an inflator spread open an airbag. An airbag cushion that is inflated with gas covers entire sunroof in just 0.08 second and protects passengers.
Panorama sunroof airbag has more complicated structure than a normal airbag and has high level of technical difficulty.
Because a panorama sunroof airbag is inside of a panorama sunroof device, it is important to secure a space for an airbag during manufacturing so that it can unfold safely. Also airbag needs to unfold safely whether or not a sunroof screen is closed during an accident. If a car is overturned with a sunroof closed, panorama sunroof airbag will unfold by crossing between a sunroof glass and an awning screen.
Due to these technical difficulties, domestic and foreign airbag manufacturers have only developed concept version of airbags until now.
“We introduced panorama sunroof airbag at a global automotive safety society that was held in the U.S. this past June and we had drawn huge interest from major U.S. organizations related to road traffic and workers from related industries.” said a representative for Hyundai Mobis. “We are going to solidify ourselves as the leading high-tech airbag manufacturer by targeting automotive markets with premium SUVs at the center.”
Staff Reporter Ryu, Jongeun | rje312@etnews.com