Ford Looks to Improve Vehicle Safety with Rear Inflatable Seat Belt

Over the last twenty years, the number of safety devices inside cars has grown by a considerable amount, but according to Ford Motor Company there is still room for improvement. Looking to improve on one of the simplest safety devices in a car, Ford has developed a seat belt with an integrated airbag for better protection for rear passengers. While front passengers get active head restraints, front airbags and seat belt pretensioners, rear-seat occupants usually only get a roof-mounted side-curtain airbag effective in reducing injuries during side-impact collisions and vehicle rollover incidents. Ford’s inflatable rear seat belt is just another aspect of the supplementary restraint system that is designed to provide maximum crash protection for all vehicle occupants.

Set to debut on the 2011 Ford Explorer, the inflatable seat belts not only help to spread the resulting forces of a crash over an area that is five times larger than a conventional seat belt, but they also control head and neck motion. Like any of the other airbags inside today’s car, when a collision is detected, the inflatable seat belts expand using a cold compressed gas that flows through a specially designed seat belt buckle. Ford says that the seat belt airbags deploy at a slower rate and at a lower pressure to prevent additional injuries, but the bags still inflate in a fraction of a second – just 40 milliseconds. Other than the unique buckle, the inflatable seat belts look and feel the same as a traditional seat belt, but they contain the hidden bag that splits the belt’s webbing when deployed. Ford also claims that an unexpected result of the new technology is a more comfortable seat belt meaning that more people are likely to buckle up.

According to Susan Cischke, Ford Motor Company group vice president of Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering, only about 60 percent of rear-seat passengers actually wear their seatbelts including those most susceptible to injury: young children and the elderly.

“Ford’s rear inflatable seat belt technology will enhance safety for rear-seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes,” Cischke said. “This is another unique family technology that builds on our safety leadership, including the most top safety ratings of any automaker.”

Based on videos and animations released by Ford, the inflatable seat belts are designed for regular use and also with booster seats and child seats. From the buckle, about a two or three foot long section of the seat belt actually contains the airbag, and just like the other vehicle airbags, the seat belt will require replacement following airbag deployment. The inflatable rear seat belts deploy during frontal- and side-impact collisions.

Ford isn’t the only automaker planning to introduce this new safety device as Lexus plans to equip its upcoming supercar with similar seat belts for both passengers. While the 2011 Lexus LFA has a $375,000 price tag and seats just two, the 2011 Ford Explorer will likely be a three-row, seven-passenger family vehicle which is a much more fitting debut for such a technology. Eventually, Ford has said that the inflatable seat belts will spread to other multi-row Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, while Lexus hasn’t announced any intentions of spreading it to other models. In the past, Ford has used the Explorer to showcase new and, at the time, innovative safety technologies such as side curtain canopy airbag and roll stability control.